


Marks

by jade_lil



Category: Arashi (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Arashi - Freeform, F/M, Fanfiction, M/M, Soulmate-Identifying Marks
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-05-16
Updated: 2015-09-11
Packaged: 2018-03-30 20:37:47
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 30
Words: 36,075
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3950908
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jade_lil/pseuds/jade_lil
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>...and on their bodies therein lies, the marks of love and life.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Give you up

“Are they serious, Ni-chan?” his brother hisses exactly the same time he is sure the door behind him is locked. He doesn’t bother turning on the lights as he walks his way inside, discarding his outer robe carelessly aside.  
  
“You heard our father, Kazu,” he replies, vainly trying not to turn around and thus letting his brother see how badly he’s taking everything. God damn it, he should have known how much their parents trusted the marks, how far they’re willing to go in order to keep following the traditions because right now, that's exactly what is happening.  
  
He just didn’t realize they’d go as far as forcing their children to mate the minute they found out that their two oldest sons’ have matching marks.  
  
Kazu’s voice is closer when he spoke again. “But this is bullshit!” his younger brother hisses, his tone filled with venom; he couldn’t even find it in him to reprimand his brother for cursing because honestly, he’s also this close to tearing everything he could get his hands into pieces and it’s only the fact that he’s older, and therefore the supposedly more mature one, that he hasn’t resolved to doing the exact same thing despite the urge.  
  
His brother, however, never really cared about those things, as he goes about kicking the edge of Sho’s bed in a fit of rage.  
  
“Kazu, that’s enough,” he says, standing up to grab his brother by the elbow before wrapping his arms around his brother’s waist from behind. “Hey, calm down,” he whispers into Kazu’s hair, tucking Kazu’s head beneath his chin. This close, he could feel the tremble of his brother's body, the quiet but obvious rage rocking his brother’s slim frame, the tiny, choked noises escaping the back of his brother’s throat. “It’s going to be alright, I promise,”  
  
“It’s not,” his brother returns in a low, quivering voice, and he tightens his hold around his brother, tugging him closer. “You know it, Ni-chan,” Kazu follows, his words punctuated with heartbreaking hitches that make his own chest constrict. “I told you we have to do something before they find out about the marks but you said you’ll take care of it, and now –“  
  
“I’m sorry,” he mutters his apologies against his brother’s hair, holding him close as Kazu sobs quietly against him. His heart breaks watching his brother cry, and he knows it is his fault as much as it is his parents because he promised Kazu he’ll do everything in his power to keep the truth about their matching marks from their parents, but he failed.  
  
Of course they knew of their matching marks, have known it a week after Kazu turned twenty one (the last bits of the marks always appeared when the person turned that age, afterall) but they’ve managed to hide the fact from their parents, at least until this morning when their parents suddenly insisted they both go in for assessment. They’ve been holding it off for a little over a year now and so the both of them didn’t have any more reasons to come up with when their parents forced them to go.   
  
He saw the panic on his brother’s eyes, knew that in that moment, it mirrored exactly what was in his; he knew what was going to happen the second they shed their robes in front of the elders as what’s customary, knew that their parents were immediately called in for confirmation exactly the same time the marks were screened.  
  
And he wasn’t wrong.   
  
Perhaps he was quietly wishing for their parents to put in a little resistance for his and his brother’s sakes, but even then he was wrong. He really should have anticipated the length his parents are willing to go through to preserve the tradition and that they were prepared to look the other way enough to ignore the fact that they are outright allowing their children to mate like fucking animals.   
  
“There’s no use in apologizing if you’re going to allow this bullshit anyway, Ni-chan,” Kazu retorts in a tight voice.   
  
He wants to shake his head, wants to tell Kazu he knows how bad this looks but nothing he plans to say will change the fact that he is their parents’ oldest son and this family is his responsibility, and that right now, his biggest task is to obey their parents by taking his brother as his mate.  
  
“What do you want me to do, Kazu?” he asks, his tone filled with misery; as much as he hates this, there is no way to get out of this horrible situation with their parents’ consents. It was decided earlier, afterall, that he and Kazu are going to hold their union a fortnight after today.   
  
“Stop this madness, what else?” Kazu hisses. “But the question is, how are we going to do that when, instead of other people, our very own parents are the ones who have consented our trip to our own fucking doom,”  
  
“I’ve already tried talking to them,” he whispers, “they didn’t want to listen,”  
  
Kazu bristles. “How about we elope?” Kazu asks, and he actually sounded hopeful. “I have saved enough money for a trip outside the country; you can use your connections to get us some new identities and –“  
  
“Running off is not option, you know that,” he tells his brother, “at least for me, it’s not,” he clarifies, pressing another apologetic kiss to the side of his brother’s head. Well it  _is_  an option but just not for him; his family’s status is as important to him as his own legacy is, the same thing he knows his younger brother never gave a rat’s ass about even when they were children. And Kazu treats the marks with the same level of absurdity that would have been laughable if not for the fact that it’s the same thing that will save them both from their impending doom, despite neither of them knowing it.  
  
Kazu’s fingers tighten around his wrists, the defensive line of his shoulders unwavering despite his brother’s weight across his  back.   
  
A beat, then another, and he could swear he heard his brother gasped the minute his words sunk in. He lets his brother turn in his hold, watches the almost relieved smile gracing the corners of his brother’s mouth when their eyes meet.  
  
"Are you saying --?" Kazu's voice trails here, gapes when he all but nods his head and taps his brother's temple gently.  
  
"It's going to be tough," he whispers without actually addressing what is already obvious, knows that if anything, it's a sacrifice they both aware they're willing to make. "But you're going to have to live on your own once you've decided,"  
  
"A very small price to pay," his brother whispers back, "in exchange of a hassle-free, uncomplicated and hopefully happy life with someone who isn't my own flesh and blood,"  
  
He smiles; who wouldn't want that, anyway? "But you know it won't be easy, that the minute you decide to live, it's going to be the last time you'll ever see your family,"  
  
"Maybe," Kazu replies, "maybe not; but we can't think of that now and wish for things to be different because they won't. This is the only way, Ni-chan,"  
  
"Alright," he agrees in the end, "let's do this then,"  
  
“Thank you,” Kazu breathes, and at that very moment, he’s glad Kazu isn’t just the smarter one, but the braver one, too, because right then and there, his younger brother realized what he needs to do, knowing that his older brother’s hands are tied to do it for them.  
  
He nods and leans down to rest his forehead against his younger brother’s temple, squeezing the back of his brother’s neck.  
  
“I’ll arrange everything within two days,” he whispers conspiratorially, “be ready by then,”  
  
Kazu nods and reaches up to flick pinch his cheeks.   
  
“I’m going to miss you and your stupid face, though,” his younger brother breathes shakily, and he tugs him roughly into his arms, grateful for him, for his strength.  
  
“I’m going to miss you, too,” 


	2. Blink and Miss

  
He’s not even sure why he agreed on coming here, because he’s seriously going to get himself and his brother in trouble if anyone recognizes his stupid, skinny ass loitering the area, but.   
  
But he has to come and collect his allowance personally (he’s not that stupid to spend his savings, at least not if he could help it) if he doesn’t want to starve, his brother mockingly told him because his brother is evil like that. Though, he figures this is just Sho-chan’s ploy to make him come out, to at least enjoy the world he once lived in before he decided to run away.   
  
Well it isn’t like he regretted ever leaving his family behind, though a part of him will forever bear the pain of losing his name, his parents’ love just because he dared to defy traditions, but he knows he made the right decision. He loves his brother to the point where he’s willing to give his own life for him, but mating with him is a completely different story altogether.   
  
And his brother doesn’t need to tell him how glad he  _was – is_  – for his sacrifice because he knows, deep inside, he does know. Their family’s legacy – protecting their name and their family’s status particularly ---had been Sho-chan’s responsibility eversince he was born, and it is the one thing that had held his brother back from completely disobeying their parents once their matching marks had been revealed.  
  
But since he doesn’t have that kind of responsibility dangling over his shoulders the same way his brother has, it made leaving everything behind a little easier.  
  
His brother had even assured him that it is completely safe for him to attend this party since it’s like a masquerade ball of some sort (because their cousin, Lady Becky, insisted she wanted something different this time around to celebrate her birthday)  and so they came up with the costume/masquerade theme.   
  
He’s been trying to get his brother’s attention for the past fifteen minutes while fending off Lord Murayama’s attempt at shoving his tongue down his throat. The guy is so drunk that he fails to recognize that the person he’s harassing is actually Kazunari Sakurai, the missing second son of the Sakurai family.  
  
“Come on, why don’t you just dance with me?” Lord Maruyama insists, closing his fingers around Nino’s wrist.   
  
Nino huffs through the mask and roughly tugs his hand away from Lord Maruyama’s vice-like grip. Seriously, this guy is so annoying and it is only the fact that he is afraid he’d attract attention to himself that he hadn’t considered punching the guy in the face just yet, though his fist had been itching to do just that.  
  
“Forgive me, My Lord,” he mutters over-dramatically, bowing his head a little for effect, “but I didn’t come here to dance or do anything relatively stupid,” he says, wishing his brother is anywhere near so he could use him to escape this drunken idiot’s attempt at convincing him to play tongue-sword with the idiot himself. Jesus.   
  
“What? What do you mean –“ Lord Maruyama asks, or at least starts to but he simply dodges the drunken guy’s next attempt at grabbing him, sidestepping him and skirting the way to the back where few people are hanging out.   
  
He’s in the middle of rearranging his face mask when he glances up and finds an unfamiliar face gazing back at him, and he freezes.   
  
 _Holy shit_.  
  
Everything slows down then, his gaze zooming in to the man as if he’s the only person there. His stomach is in knots and every single part of him tingles with something he couldn’t quite put a name on but he’s got some idea. He’s so hot he thinks he’s going to burst, and it doesn’t help that the man hasn’t as much as break their gazes, and despite the distance separating them, he’s sure he’s not the only one feeling this strange but obviously powerful pull.  
  
He licks his suddenly dry lips despite the mask, tilts his head to the side and watches the way the man bites his own lip in return. Damn it all, he’s burning, and the man isn’t making it any easier. There are images behind his eyelids that are making his head spin, the hot, almost unfamiliar rush of sensation at one particular image of himself on his knees with his hand wrapped around the stranger’s cock almost made him groan out loud.  
  
He whimpers, quietly, feels the way his own dick throbs inside his pants.   
  
 _Fuck this._  
  
He sways to his hips to the same direction his head is tilted at, gives the man one last glance before he wanders off, knows it without an ounce of doubt that the guy will follow.


	3. Walk straight into the future

“Ease up, Satoshi,” his mate murmurs next to him, handing him a glass of something red, the liquid sloshing dangerously when he takes it from his mate’s hand; he glances up and sees his mate’s eyes are glassy, unfocused, and obviously already on his way to being drunk.  
  
“I could tell you the same thing,” he mutters, mentally smacking himself in the head for even agreeing to attend this stupid party instead of staying home to sulk. It’s marginally a lot better than being here to be honest, forcing himself to socialize with a bunch of strangers while his mate tries to charm everyone with his god-fucking-perfect smile. “With the rate you’re going, you’ll end up drunker than that stupid guy over there,” he points out, jerking a thumb over at the red-faced Lord Maruyama who is trying to kiss a dark-haired, skinny guy in a brown jumpsuit with a face-mask on.  
  
His mate shrugs. “Don’t worry,” he slurs, and god, he wants to roll his eyes and say that yeah,  _I already am_ , but bites his tongue before he could say anything. “I’ll be careful not to get too drunk this time; I wouldn’t want to end up with my ass getting dragged out of the cab because you won’t even carry me,”  
  
He quirks an eyebrow at his mate, positive that they are both aware that that cab incident never happened; to be honest, the last three times they went home wasted (at least his mate was, because he’s always been too careful about getting drunk eversince he mated), it always ended up with his hand wrapped around his mate’s cock. It’s odd, really, that those were the only times he’d voluntarily touched his mate, but it was probably because the man ended up shamelessly begging for it, to be touched since he wouldn’t even dare think of providing his mate with more than a few half-hearted handjobs to get him off.  
  
He’s truly a bastard and he knows it.   
  
He stares at his mate and feel his stomach vaults to the ground, wondering how many times this same thing has happened in the last year they’re together. Not that many, of course, but the end result is pretty much always the same thing.  
  
He huffs out a snort. “It’s not like I don’t want to carry you,” he says instead, eyeing his mate warily, “as you can see, you’re obviously out of my weight class,”  
  
His mate laughs mirthlessly. “Makes you wonder how the marks pointed out you’re  _the_  Alpha when I’m obviously taller and bigger than you are, right?”  
  
“Not in everything, you’re not,” he points out, wonders why such no nonsense things are pissing him off when he is sure his mate is just trying to crack a joke or something. God, he needs to do something about his temper, about his attitude towards his mate before he finds himself behind bars for maltreating his mate or something. Damn it all.  
  
“I wouldn’t know that for sure,” his mate returns, equally wary, his mouth twisting bitterly at the edges. He wants to say something in return but figures that anything he’s going to be spouting out will probably just bunch of craps anyway. “As I’ve never been treated a view over such big things you say you own, anyway,”  
  
He shakes his head and watches as his mate drains the last of his drink, before turning his head away to find the man in the brown jumpsuit – the same guy Lord Maruyama was harassing before – standing a few paces away from them, rearranging his face mask, their eyes meeting for the first time and he feels like he’s just been punched hard in the gut.  
  
There are tiny fireworks going off inside him the whole time they are standing there staring at each other, and hell, his mouth is dry despite also draining the last of the drink his mate handed him with. He doesn’t even realize he’s staring until he realized his mate’s fingers are on his jaw, tilting his face sideways.  
  
“Satoshi? Hey, what’s wrong?”  
  
 _Fuck, everything is_ , he thinks, swallowing past the lump that has formed in his throat and gives his mate a little head shake. There’s this stupid voice screaming inside his head, telling him things he knows he shouldn’t do but wants to all the same.   
  
“Nothing,” he says, turning to find the man is still there, still staring at him as if he’s waiting – waiting for what, he’s not sure but he’s got some idea. He knows he’s not supposed to look at someone else the way he’s supposed to be looking at his mate, but looking at that man brings him such terrifying urge to push the man against a nearest surface and fuck him right there.  
  
“You sure?”  
  
His hands are shaking when he tips his glass up and smiles at his mate, all the while keeping track of the man through his peripherals. He spies him tilting his head a little to the right, his left hand swaying to the same direction without giving anything away before he wanders off.  
  
A ruse, an invitation, and god damn it, he is hard.  
  
“Yeah,” he says, grateful for little things such as his voice barely quivering despite the fact that the rest of him is. “Anyway, will you excuse me for a bit? I’m just –“ gonna follow that man who just made my dick hard.  
  
His mate frowns but his head is filled with so many different things involving the man he just eyefucked a few minutes ago to even care.   
  
“What?”  
  
He takes the empty glass from his mate’s hand and wishes he doesn’t look as eager as he feels.   
  
“I’m going to get us both another glass,” he says, then, like an afterthought, “but I’ll go and take a piss first; my bladder’s about to explode,”  
  
“You want me to go with you?”  
  
He shakes his head and that tiny voice screaming inside his head is throwing a fit now. It’s also a little bit alarming that his dick is doing the exact same thing inside his pants, too.   
  
“Nah, I’m good,” he says, stepping back but not before he made sure his mate is properly seated. “Besides, you look like you’re about to fall over anyway so stay put, okay? I’ll be back,” he says, turning completely around with his heart beating loudly in his chest.  
  
“With food, please?” his mates hollers and he only manages a distracted thumbs up before he’s flagging a bypassing waiter to ask for directions to the nearest bathroom just to show his mate.   
  
He’s going to have to walk around to avoid getting seen but it’s fine, his body’s vibrating with so much raw energy as he chases after the scent of the man that lingers through the air; for the first time in his life, something is finally fucking right and he knows it, feels it in his gut and knows that right now, he is chasing after it.


	4. Intuition

  
“I heard there are some people who don’t believe about the authenticity of the Marks,” Lady Becky says with an elegant flicker of her pretty, pretty hands. “For all we know, they might just be some kind of skin markings that are being passed through parents to offspring,” she says,  then, “Their words, not mine,”  
  
He wants to agree but he knows speaking up will only make things worse. “But how do you explain the exact same patterns of the marks that appear on different individuals?” Lord Toma asks, brows furrowed; well, it is certainly one more question up for debate but it has been asked before and no one has yet to figure out the answer.  
  
“Coincidence?” she tries, her pretty lips curling teasingly. “Or maybe, those whose marks match must be related, somehow. I mean, how can we explain it, really? We can only guess, you know? But haven’t you guys thought about it? What if the matching marks appear between two siblings, does that mean they have to mate for them to be able to fulfill the teachings? It’s absurd, don’t you think? I have yet to find the one whose marks match mine, though I’m not really rushing because finding the one means I’d have to surrender myself and be his or her mate, but, I don’t know, I think I would want to find the one who I like to spend the rest of my life with on my own instead of letting the marks decide how I should live my life or who I will spend my life with for me,”  
  
God, her ladyship is so brave, so smart he wonders if she ever gets in trouble for saying what’s on her mind.   
  
“I don’t mind mating with you even if our marks don’t match, Lady Becky,” Lord Murakami offers with a wicked grin, a statement that earned a round of snorting from the men around the table and giggles from the women.   
  
“Well, I do mind, Lord Murakami so you can forget all about it,” her ladyship returns with an equally wicked grin, making Lord Murakami blush fiery red. He looks like a very ripe tomato, with his red face and green, turtle-necked sweatshirt tucked into his fine, brown slacks.  
  
He smiles inwardly and grabs his glass when his gaze zooms in into the face of probably the most gorgeous man he has ever laid his eyes on, with unruly hair and perfect mouth.  
  
The man is standing next to a smaller man, whose eyes are sleepy and expression bored; he doesn’t know why it suddenly feels like he is being literally lit on fire when the man’s gaze found his, his throat dry when the man tilts his head a little, then bows as if he realized he shouldn’t be looking.  
  
The smaller man next to the man says something and the man nods his head, says something back and watches as the smaller man walks away. He feels a little hysterical when he realized he’s eyeing a very obviously mated man, his chest constricting at the idea of finding someone who catches his interest, finally, and then knowing he is mated in the end anyway.  
  
“Lord Sho, what do you think about those people saying that there are anomalies in the Marks that the public don’t know about?” Lord Toma asks, and he almost, almost wasn’t able to snap at the man for breaking his concentration, thus making him look away from the man whose face is now engraved at the back of his eyelids.  
  
He shrugs and sips his drink, lets his eyes wander back to the man who also has a glass in his hand. God, his stomach is in knots and he doesn’t know why looking at the man is making his head spin.  _Must_  be the alcohol. _Probably_  the alcohol.  
  
“I can’t say for certain,” he replies with a slight tilt of his head, “but I think we won’t know if there really are anomalies if only one or few people will say it. I mean, we’ve been following this thing for ages, and as far as we know, matching marks don’t only match physically but in all aspects, too,”  
  
“So you believe in it? In mating with the person whose marks match yours?” Lord Toma follows as everyone’s gazes are directed to him.   
  
He smiles and stands up. “Hmm, I’d have to get back to you for that,” he says and bows, the men complaining loudly while the men whispers harshly to one another.  
  
He takes his drink and gazes at the man before his eyes follows the path the man’s mate has taken, takes three seconds to make up his mind before his feet is moving.


	5. Burn

  
“Fuck,” he grumbles, frustrated, his half-hearted attempt at keeping his hands to himself is already hindered by the sounds of Ninomiya’s sexy but equally frustrated whimpers.   
  
He has an arm looped around the slighter man’s waist and the other is reaching down for his fucking phone which hasn’t stopped vibrating inside his pants’ pocket for the last ten minutes; it’s fucking distracting but he knows for a fact that whoever is calling him is probably going batshit crazy looking around for him.  
  
He doesn’t even need to check the screen to know that it is his mate.  
  
“Damn it,” he hisses, biting his tongue a little too late to stifle his groans when Ninomiya’s own is teasing its way inside his mouth, wet and demanding and oh so fucking perfect. “Shit –“  
  
“Kiss me,” Ninomiya moans, his tone dripping with want, his hands needy on their grip around his waist. He wants to do more than kiss him but he can’t – not here, at least, and not now when the chances of them getting caught is at it's highest. “O-Ohno-san, p-please –“  
  
He is grabbing Ninomiya around the back of his neck, his phone completely forgotten, to mash their mouths together. He’s sucking at Ninomiya’s tongue like a man desperate for air, rolling his hips unto the other man’s own as he pushes Ninomiya firmly against the wall.  
  
His phone vibrates in his hand yet again and he spits out another curse exactly the moment he pulls his mouth away from Ninomiya, his whole body is shaking with combined frustration and arousal.  
  
“Fuck, I need to –“ he says, or at least starts to, his brain too slow to catch up but his limbs obviously aren’t because he is reaching over to tug Ninomiya by his wrist at the same time the other man takes a tentative step back. “Where the fuck do you think you’re  _going_?”  
  
Ninomiya’s face is flushed but there’s something in the curl of his lips that makes him want to hit himself for even opening his mouth, for even whipping his phone out when he knows who was calling, interrupting this blissful moment with the man whose lips fits perfectly against his.   
  
He thumbs Ninomiya's lips tenderly, his gaze straying from Ninomiya's bruised mouth to his still lust-laden dark eyes. He wants to say a lot of things but he doesn't know where to begin, doesn't know if he has the right to say them especially since they both know he's not a free man.  
  
But god, he wants this man and everything about him answers to all the things he wants to consume badly, his fingers twitch to caress every inch of this man's skin if he could.  
  
"Someone's calling," Ninomiya whispers, avoiding his eyes, "it's your m-mate, isn't it?"  
  
He doesn't answer though he knows that his silence is answer enough and he watches the way Ninomiya's mouth thinned, the way his chin quiver as realization sets in. He raises his hand, the urge to touch Ninomiya's face is so strong he finds that he couldn't resist the pull, but he is stopped halfway when Ninomiya raises his head to meet his gaze before he again looks away.  
  
There's something in Ninomiya's eyes that makes even the simple thing as breathing difficult and he only vaguely wonders what he's done when he realizes that Ninomiya is trying to do the right thing despite the fact that they want each other so much it hurts.  
  
Of course Ninomiya realizes the gravity of the situation, that the fact that he is here, kissing the other man for all he’s worth while his mate is out there is making itself known on Ninomiya’s face without the other man realizing it.  
  
“I –“ Ninomiya breathes, hesitant, his eyes locked on the ground; he wants to take it all back, wants to undo everything if only so he wouldn’t have to see that look of pure heartache in the other man’s face but doing that means losing this – whatever the hell this is and he’s not sure whether he is strong enough to resist this now.  
  
He takes Ninomiya’s face in hand and tugs him in, ignoring his phone yet again in favor of kissing the man's closed eyes, soft and tender as he caresses the other man's jaw.  
  
“Give me your number and I will call you once I’ve taken my _ma_  – Jun home,” he whispers into the other man’s ear, pressing his mouth to the side of the other man’s temple. He is shaking and he bets the other man could feel it too, and he is this close to begging the other man not to refuse when Ninomiya heaves a sigh that sounds close to a whimper and nods.  
  
"I'll send you my address, too," Ninomiya adds before he is treated to another kiss so passionate he almost forgets where they are as he kisses Ninomiya back.


	6. Telepathy

He probably wasn't thinking properly but he guesses none of it matters now when all he thinks about is how perfect it is to be right where he is, backed against his apartment's door while he is being kissed thoroughly.  
  
It hasn't even been an hour since he left the party and just about half an hour since he arrived in the apartment with a heavy heart, but he can't remember any of that right now. Even the gnawing anxiety is replaced with something so heady that it is making him dizzy, and he realized he is letting out soft noises when he feels the man's tongue dragging itself across the sensitive line of his jaw, his fingers firm and yet tender around the back of his neck.  
  
To say that he was shocked to find this man standing outside the door when he opened it a couple of minutes ago is an understatement, though it isn't an unwelcomed one since he's torn in between wanting to tug this man back when he turned around to find his mate and chastising himself at the same time for wanting someone who already belongs to someone else.  
  
But he can't deny the fact that they both want this, and that the intense desire they feel for each other is something they could no longer ignore, much more now when they are behind closed door and they are hidden from the outside world, at least for the time being.  
  
"I didn't know you'd really come," he whispers, then gasps when the man's mouth finds his again, stealing his breath and his ability to think proper thoughts with the way the man's tongue is wickedly teasing his own. He's surprised with how eagerly he is returning the man's kisses as if this isn't their first time, but he guesses it's just how it is when his body is acting on pure instinct alone.  
  
The man hums into his mouth and sucks his tongue in that almost dirty way that makes his belly clench in the most delicious way ever.  
  
"I didn't expect you'd really send me your address," the man says, tilting his head and nipping his way from the corners of his mouth to the underside of his chin. Then the man's mouth catches his again and they kiss for a while, and he almost forgets everything else until the man thrusts up and lets him feel his desire through the unforgiving fabric separating them.  
  
He pulls away enough to talk, meets the man's gaze through the blurring haze clouding his vision and licks his suddenly dry lips, his throat closing up when the man does the same.  
  
God, what should he do? It is bad enough that he is lusting over someone who is already mated but to find the same written all over the man's face is overwhelming enough to make him forget he has a heart, never mind a conscience, as everything narrows down to the fact that they're here, alone, and is free to do whatever the hell they want to each other.  
  
"A-Are we really going to do this or do you want me to stop you now before we go too far?" he asks, voice shaky despite himself, though his fingers are gripping the man's forearms tightly as if he's afraid to let him go. His heart is beating hard inside his chest that it's so difficult to breath properly, wishing the man is strong enough to walk away now before this goes too far and complicate things further.  
  
The man blinks a few times as if he's weighing things in his head and he honestly feels a little terrified.  
  
But then the man leans in and noses his cheek and everything sort of slows down then when the man whispers, husky and hoarse, against his skin,  
  
"Fuck if I will,"  
  
That is answer enough.  
  
+++  
  
His knuckles are white against their grip on his headboard and he is having trouble keeping his voice down but he guesses it's just fine when the man rutting behind him couldn't be bother to keep his voice down either. His ass feels full, his insides fuller but it's the kind of feeling that is so wonderful he wishes it to never end.  
  
"Ah, fuck fuck fuck -" the man behind him rasps out, hands tight on his hips as the man rolls his own into him, balls smacking against his ass in an unbroken rhythm. He feels a little lightheaded, but it's probably because he's so turned on, that the feel of the man's cock slipping in and out of his ass is life the most wonderful thing he has ever experienced.  
  
"Harder -" he moans, more like begs, hips bucking back to each of the man's thrusts and he honestly wonders if this is how it always feel to mate with someone who isn't yours, but he guesses he wouldn't know. This is his first time doing this with someone, afterall. "Ah, faster!"  
  
The man groans behind him and he feels the man's hand rounding its way to the front to touch him. He is shaking within seconds when the man's fingers finds his cock, thumb gracing the dripping head and making him whimper at the almost electrifying sensation. He wants to come but something's holding him back, groaning under his breath as he turns his head to the side and catches the man's intense gaze.  
  
"Kiss me," he mouths, and the man doesn't even hesitate; he's leaning in before he has time to blink, mouth parted open in a gasp as their lips meet. Their tongues tangle together and he honestly wishes he has the strength to keep it going till morning but he knows its impossible.  
  
"I'm going to come in you," the man breathes into his mouth at the same time he jerks his hips hard enough to push him forward, his cock hitting the end of him that it is borderline painful. He welcomes it with a moan so loud he only vaguely wonders if the rest of the world could hear him, at the same time the man's fingers squeezes his dick in time with the vicious snap of his hips.  
  
"Tell me I'm allowed to, Ninomiya-san," the man groans yet again, and the sound of it is enough to send thrills of sensation down his spine. He is shaking, the man's fingers around his dick is the most perfect thing ever and he finds himself throwing his head back at the same time the man continously fucks him, hard and fast and frantic.  
  
"Tell me!"  
  
"Yes, oh god, yes!"  
  
Two, three vicious snaps and the man is gone, shuddering violently against him as he shoots his pleasure inside him, his fingers pumping him through the man's orgasm.  
  
He realizes he is shouting profanities and shooting his own desire all over his headboard before he could even stop it, shaking as the man fucks him through it.  
  
+++  
  
He wakes to the feel of the man's fingers tracing soft touches all over his face.  
  
"I have to go," he says, soft and quiet and the only thing he could do is nod. The man leans down and kisses him, just as softly, and he finds himself reaching up to tangle his fingers through the man's hair.   
  
"Thank you," he whispers when they pull apart, heart full to bursting when the man shakes his head and kisses him again. "Ohno-san,"  
  
"I know what you're going to say," Ohno-san grumbles, his voice cracking in the middle. "Don't,"  
  
It's his turn to shake his head, though he hasn't taken his hands away, hasn't seized touching Ohno-san's face.   
  
"You're mated," he says, pointing the obvious, "we shouldn't have let this happen,"  
  
Ohno-san ducks down to press their foreheads together, the gesture so painfully intimate he finds himself wishing Ohno-san is his instead. But he's not, and that's all there is to it.  
  
"But it already did so don't fucking tell me it's a mistake," Ohno-san tells him, his voice still trembling, his mouth still soft against his cheek. "Don't because this -- you -- this is all new to me but... but..."  
  
"I know," he returns, because it's true; he does understand what the other man is trying to say though he's not sure how. There are images in his head that he knows aren't his but it feels like they're his own and it doesn't feel weird or anything.  
  
"W-Wait, what are you thinking right now?" he asks, a little bewildered.  
  
Ohno-san raises his head and stares at him in confusion.  
  
"What do you mean?"  
  
"Right now," he says, "what are you thinking right now?"  
  
Ohno-san blinks and blinks again, then smiles a little sheepishly. "Um,"  
  
"Could it be, you're thinking of me on my knees and sucking you?" he asks, eyes wide. Ohno-san's eyes widen too.  
  
"How did you --"  
  
He exhales. "Shit,"  
  
"Eh?"  
  
"Fucking shit, I can read your thoughts --"  
  
"What?!"


	7. In the arms of another

"You have to go," he says, more like begs, though he couldn't even command his hands to let go, gripping Ohno's arms for support. "S-Satoshi -"  
  
Ohno's no better either, for he hasn't moved to untuck his face from where he has it mashed against the nape of Nino's neck, where he is breathing warm air against Nino's skin. Nino wants to document it all, the feel of Ohno's body so close to his, the almost suffocating way Ohno is holding onto him, the now all-too-familiar shape of Ohno's name in his lips.  
  
He wants to, but he knows that every good thing must end. Especially those good things that already belongs to someone else.  
  
"I know -" Ohno murmurs, voice shaky; Nino's heart breaks at the way Ohno's voice cracks in the middle, as if he knows he's being unfair but isn't entirely sure how to correct his mistakes. "I know, Nino, but - god, I -"  
  
"Your mate is probably worried," he returns, squeezing Ohno's hands and tilting his head to the side, basking on the feel of Ohno's hair tickling the skin of his nape. It feels so wonderful just to be this close to Ohno, wondering why it's this way when he knows it shouldn't be.  
  
Their marks don't match and yet their hearts are beating as if they're one, and he wonders not for the first time, if everything about those matching marks are true when he's pretty sure he doesn't feel this way about the person whose marks match his.  
  
"Come on," he coaxes, patting Ohno's hands gently, meaning it to be reassuring until Ohno lets him go only so he could turn him around. They're face to face, again, when he feels Ohno's fingers tracing soft touches across his jaw, feels Ohno's thumb swiping the tears he didn't know he was shedding until Ohno wipes it away.  
  
"I'll go but only if you promise to let me in when I come by again," Ohno whispers, too softly that he's not sure how he's still able to understand the words Ohno is saying over the noises his heart is making, but he does and he honestly wishes to address it out loud when Ohno leans in to rest their foreheads together. "Don't bother questioning it because I honestly have no idea how you're able to read my thoughts but I guess it has something to do with the fact that we just ma --"  
  
"Stop," he cuts in, covering Ohno's mouth with a finger; he already knows what Ohno is going to say but hearing it out loud makes it harder to believe that he had just allowed a mated man to fuck him the way his own mate would. "P-Please, just - just go -"  
  
Ohno shakes his head, keeps shaking it while he reaches up to hold his face in between Ohno's hands, leaning in forward to kiss him gently on the lips. "I won't until you tell me you're not going anywhere without telling me; that you'll wait for me, that you'll let me in the next time I come by, that you'll kiss me back when I do, that you'll let me -"  
  
"I - we c-can't -"  
  
Ohno cuts him off with a kiss so passionate he almost forgot how to breath, keeps kissing him until he is left gasping for air, grasping at Ohno's shoulders like they were his lifeline.  
  
"I know you want to do the right thing," Ohno says, still mostly against his mouth and the gesture is so warmly intimate that he finds himself leaning unto Ohno, finds his hands worming around Ohno's neck as Ohno noses his cheek. "But it's too late for that, Nino," Ohno says, his misery palpable even in this closeness. "It's too late for that because I - I can't stay away from you now, I can't, not anymore, not after what happened,"  
  
"S-Satoshi -"  
  
"So I'll leave because I have to and not because I want to," Ohno says, kissing the sides of his mouth, his temple, his chin. "But I am coming back and I don't care if that's not what you want. I'll knock on your door till morning and you can either keep it shut or let me in because I'll keep coming back, Nino. I'll be back and you can't stop me,"  
  
He feels the rush of something warm and heady when Ohno kisses him again, parts his mouth and gasps when he kisses Ohno back.  
  
When Ohno pulls away, there is something so very different in his eyes that Nino knows mirrors what is probably on his own.  
  
"Nino -"  
  
He caresses Ohno's cheek and leans in for another kiss, smiles into it and feels Ohno's answering grin.  
  
He doesn't need to answer because he knows Ohno already sees it, but he does just the same.  
  
"I'll leave the door open,"  
  
Ohno kisses him again.  



	8. Marks

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> and this is where it all began. LOL

“If there’s any way – if I can, you know I would have chosen you,” Ohno tells him this everytime, every single time they meet like this – in secret – and Nino still doesn’t know how to answer him.   
  
Of course it’s hard, of course it is painful, to be someone else’s kept secret when he could be so much more to Ohno than what he is to him right now but he knows the problem isn’t just because Ohno doesn’t want to.  
  
“But you can’t,” he breathes into Ohno’s skin, fingers finding Ohno’s own beneath the covers they’re sharing, and the spot he has his face mashed against is damp before he even realizes it. “I know that, Oh-chan,” he adds, fingers shaking just like the rest of him and he wishes he doesn’t feel the way Ohno’s heart breaks at the sight of him, at the feel of him shaking against Ohno desperately.  
  
“I wish  _we_ were different,” Ohno murmurs, and the tone of his voice is enough to set him off again, his chest constricting in a way that makes even the simple thing such as breathing difficult. “I wish you are him, I wish the mark I have on me matches the one you have instead of the ones on Jun’s – maybe then we – maybe we’d be –“  
  
He feels himself being tugged in before he found the chance to nod his head, Ohno’s arms branding around him as Ohno’s mouth finds his with so little difficulty.  
  
“But we can’t,” he whispers, brokenly, and feels Ohno’s tears wetting his face as Ohno kisses him fiercely. “I’m sorry, Oh-chan, but we can’t,”  
  
Ohno kisses him then again, hard and deep and fierce, and Nino thinks, despite the pain of their oncoming separation, Ohno was his till the very end, marks or no marks, their souls had been made for each other since the beginning of time and no one -- not even the man who carries the marks that matches that on Ohno's, can dispute that.  



	9. Unmatched

It’s a wonder, really, how this feels so right when he knows it shouldn’t be. They said it, afterall, that the minute you find the one whose marks matches yours, everything will fall into place and you’ll know it.  
  
He thought he did, at least when he saw the marks on Jun, but.  
  
But then Nino shows up and everything in his world halts to a stop the minute his eyes met Nino’s.  
  
They were clawing at each other at the back of Sho’s elegant backyard fifteen minutes after, touching each other all over as if the night is onto them before they realized it.  
  
“W-What’s your name?” he remembers asking Nino, while his mouth is busy sucking a mark against Nino’s collarbone. He remembers the sweet sounds of Nino’s whimpers when he licked the spot he just sucked hard, remembers doing it again when Nino threw his head back and outright moaned. “Hey, your name, what is it?”  
  
He remembers Nino’s fingers on his hair, tugging, pulling, fingernails scraping through his scalp in an obvious ‘ _please, more’_  gesture, remembers wishing they were in a bed so he could feel those fingers digging into his back as he pounded into Nino’s tight, perfect heat.  
  
“N-Ninomiya,” Nino replied then, his voice hoarse and husky, the sound of it so sexy that he found himself leaning up to catch Nino’s mouth for another kiss.  “First name’s  Kazunari --- oh –“  
  
He chuckled then, breathed Nino’s name against Nino’s skin. He fingered the hem of Nino’s shirt, slipped two fingers beneath and touched the dip of Nino’s spine as Nino arched into him, his body almost bent in half as he mouthed at Nino’s throat.  
  
“I’m Ohno,” he remembers telling Nino, his self-control melting along with his higher brain functions. He remembers letting one of his hands down, in between them, remembers the sharp sounds of Nino’s gasps when his fingers found Nino, hard and throbbing and perfectly fitting inside his fist.  
  
“Oh – shit, oh,”  
  
He remembers gripping Nino's hips so tight he knew there'd be bruises come morning, remembers flipping them over so he had Nino backed against the wall as he continued peppering kisses down the column of Nino's lovely neck.  
  
"Fuck, you're so --" he remembers cursing when Nino's arms circled his neck, remembers cursing some more when Nino all but clung unto him like he wouldn't think of letting go. But then he stupidly lifted Nino's shirt, his mouth following his fingers' trajectory, eyes glazing over the unfamiliar marks scattered across Nino's chest.  
  
"Shit --" he remembers pausing, remembers the way his heart plummeted to the ground as Nino froze against him.  
  
"W-What -- What is it?"  
  
"I --"  
  
He remembers watching Nino's face, as realization settles in and Nino is as still as a statue as he puts his palm against Nino's chest.  
  
"We don't match," Nino mutters, and his voice sounded like pure heartbreak.  
  
He remembers shaking his head, remembers grabbing Nino by the nape of his neck, tugging Nino's face down to rest their foreheads together.   
  
He remembers kissing Nino's mouth tenderly as Nino's eyes remained close.  
  
"No, we don't," he says, kissing Nino anyway.


	10. Cut Me Loose

“Why haven’t you found your mate?”   
  
Nino looks up at him through heavy-lidded eyes, through mouthful of cock that makes everything seemed disjointed, hazy, blurry; he reaches over to touch Nino’s cheek and wonders, not for the first time, why this feels so right when it shouldn’t be, when the only thing that should feel right is when he is with Jun, his mate, and not with someone else.  
  
Not when he’s with Nino.  
  
Nino hollows his cheeks and he finds that there's that fluttering thing in his stomach again, his chest constricting at the sight of Nino’s face as Nino sucks on his cock.  
  
Nino pulls back just far enough to talk and he couldn’t stop himself from touching him, couldn’t keep his fingers from stroking Nino’s face, the line of his jaw, the tips of his nose.   
  
“Don’t know,” is Nino’s simple reply, licking his swollen lips and absently thumbing the head of his cock. “But I’m glad that I haven’t,” Nino follows with a tiny smile, ducking down to suck the head of his cock again before he lets go. “Because if I did, then I wouldn’t have – we wouldn’t –“  
  
He cups Nino’s chin and tips Nino’s face up, catching Nino’s mouth for a kiss. “I’m equally glad,” he tells Nino, feeling that now too-familiar rage bubbling inside his chest with just the simple thought of someone else holding Nino, of someone else’s cock inside Nino’s mouth and ass. “I’d probably go berserk if you were mated and I knew you’d be doing the same to him as what you're doing to me now. I'd go crazy, I'm sure I would,"  
  
"Didn't peg you for the jealous type," Nino comments as he licks him again.   
  
"I wasn't aware either," he tells Nino, matter of factly, "until I met you,"  
  
Nino's smile is so private, so fond, so -- fuck, he wants Nino so much it hurts. Nino pulls himself up and throws himself on his lap, arms branding around his neck and nosing his cheek.  
  
"You are such a sap, Oh-chan," Nino breathes softly into his skin, his arms going tight around Nino's waist.   
  
"I want you,"   
  
Nino smiles and kisses the tips of his nose, grinding into him and making his eyes loll to the back of his head at the wonderful sensation.  
  
"You have me,"  
  
He takes Nino's face in his hands and kisses Nino tenderly. "Thank god for that,"


	11. Freefall

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This just the other side of Cut me loose (Nino's end)

“Why haven’t you found your mate?”   
  
The question surprised him as much as the genuine confusion that went along with it has, and he is only marginally thankful that he has his eyes closed while his mouth work around Ohno’s cock that he is able to hide how shocked he was by the question.  
  
He swirls his tongue along the dripping slit at the same time he guards his thoughts from being seen, tightening his hold around the base of Ohno’s cock and humming.  
  
Once done successfully, he looks Ohno up through heavy-lidded eyes and feels Ohno’s fingertips trailing across his cheek.  
  
“Don’t know,” he lies once he’s pulled his mouth from Ohno’s cock, just far enough to talk, licking the remains of Ohno’s arousal from his lips.  He’s absently thumbing at the head while Ohno is staring him down, cupping his cheek and looking at him as if he’s not aware he just asked a question.   
  
Of course it is something he still can’t be man enough to admit, especially since he’s not even sure how to address the issue without feeling thoroughly disgusted about it. He doesn’t believe in these matching marks bullshit, anymore than he did a couple of years ago but Ohno doesn’t have to know that. And as days goes by, and spending most of it with Ohno’s cock inside him, with the older man’s thoughts linked with his, he thinks Ohno’s beginning to hate it, too.  
  
“But I’m glad that I haven’t,” he says, smiling a little and ducking down to take the head back into the heat of his mouth, pulling back after a few lingering sucks. “Because if I did, then I wouldn’t have – we wouldn’t –“ he pauses here, swallowing past the lump that’s formed in his throat as he goes through Ohno’s thoughts when Ohno allows him to.   
  
There’s an overwhelming rush whenever Ohno lets him explore his thoughts freely, especially when they’re not together, but the rush is even stronger when they’re together like  _this_. He’s not sure how it is possible for two people with unmatched marks and who aren’t mated to communicate through thoughts like they do, but somehow, it’s what makes this all the more difficult to comprehend, the fact that they simply could and without even so much as trying.  
  
It’s a wonder, really, for them to be able to do that when Ohno confirmed he and his mate hasn’t able to; maybe it is because Ohno and his mate has yet to take the final step to be able to do that, but even then, he’s so glad he did what he did – running away instead of letting the stupid marks ruin his life and that of his brother.  
  
He doesn’t have to tell the older man that he had found his mate three years prior, as how people do these days through the marks, that it was the reason why he’d resolved to running, to leaving his family behind and adopting his mother’s maiden name eversince he started hiding. He doesn’t have to tell Ohno these things, maybe someday, but not now.  
  
“So do I,” the older man murmurs, hooking a thumb under his chin and tipping his face up. “I’d probably go berserk if you were mated and I knew you’d be doing the same to him as what you're doing to me now. I'd go crazy, I'm sure I would," Ohno says in utter seriousness and god, how can this be so wrong when it feels so right, being where he is right now.  
  
He smiles and wonders what else he should do to keep Ohno here, smiles again when Ohno lets him in his thoughts and finds the images of himself perched on top of Ohno’s lap and bouncing.  
  
He is moving before he could even stop himself.  
  



	12. Distance and Desperation

His hands hadn’t stopped twitching ever since they arrived in the apartment after their untimely but badly needed trip up north to meet the rest of his mate’s family at the same time they were called in for re-assessment as was customary.

All couples who mate through the marks are to submit themselves to be re-evaluated every year and last week had been their first year together. During the trip though, Jun fell sick, probably because of the sudden temperature change and thus they were asked to just come back after a month.

They barely made it to the door and inside the apartment but he is dreading to turn back around and the need to just drop everything down and flag the first available cab he can find is so strong that he has to remind himself that his mate is still weak and that leaving him alone for more than a few hours is clearly inhuman but.

But god, it’s been weeks since the last time he saw Nino and he can’t bear the driving need to be with him any longer but he swallows it down in favor of acting like a responsible partner, at least for once.

“Are you hungry?” he asks Jun when he’s sure his mate is settled comfortably on the bed – their bed – crouches to retrieve the pile of dirty laundry sitting at the foot of the bed as he waits for his mate’s reply. “Jun?” he calls again, sampling a glance towards the lump Jun makes on the bed and reaches over to press his palm against Jun’s forehead.

“I’m okay,” Jun grinds out, eyes closed. “I think I better sleep this off and maybe I’ll feel better the next time I wake up. I’m sorry but you’ll have to cook for yourself today, too,”

He shakes his head and straightens up, the itch returning like plague taking over his entire being but he again manages to rein it in.

“I’ll just buy us some pre-packaged foods, then,” he suggests, wishes that his voice doesn’t come out as shaky as he himself feels. “Better that than force myself to cook; I don’t really want to end up burning our house down,” he adds, albeit jokingly.

“Good idea,” his mate agrees, smiling a little; he even pops his eyes open to squint at him before he shoos him out. “What are you waiting for there? Go and buy yourself something to eat. I’ll be fine, don’t worry about me,”

He grins and stoops to pick up his dirty shirt that fell down from the pile of dirty laundry he has in his arms.

“Okay,” he says, “just a couple of hours, okay? Please don’t die while I’m not here, if you can help it,” he jokes.

Jun snorts in response and tells him to go. He doesn’t need to hear his mate say it the third time as he’s out the door in an instant.

+++

He backs Nino against the stall’s wall, his mouth locked on Nino’s as he works on shoving Nino’s pants down his slender hips. He’s only vaguely thankful that the restaurant’s men’s room is currently empty, thus making it a little easier to shove Nino inside the last stall and locking it quickly behind them.

“O-Oh-chan –“

He kisses Nino quiet again, fingers working around Nino’s cock in earnest. “Let me,” he breathes, fingers shaking around Nino’s cock, and he’s so turned on to the point of pain at the feel of Nino’s familiar warmth pressed against his body. “Let me just –“

Nino moans against his mouth before he pulls away. “But you said we should be careful and we shouldn’t –“

“Two weeks, Nino,” he cuts in, catching Nino’s mouth into another hungry kiss that’s about as desperate as his need to be inside Nino as soon as possible. “Two fucking weeks, you have no idea how close I was to leaving my mate behind just to go back to you. So please, please, I have to – I need to –“

Nino outright moans when he pushes two fingers inside Nino’s mouth, humming into Nino’s ear to slick them wet as he tongues the sensitive spot beneath Nino’s ear. Nino does as he’s told, licks the fingers that are shoved in his mouth as wetly as he could manage it.

When he pulls them out, however, Nino’s eyes are heavy-lidded when he whispers, “Don’t you want me to blow you instead?” Nino asks, then, “that way it won’t be too messy,” Nino proposes, “We don’t even have condoms –“

“No,” he breathes back, mouth pressed against Nino’s jaw as he rearranges Nino’s legs, shoving them apart as his fingers, wet with Nino’s spit, find Nino’s entrance with so little difficulty. A moan tears itself from the center of Nino’s chest when he all but pushes his fingers inside Nino to loosen him up, mouthing Nino’s name against Nino’s cheek in quiet apology.

“I have to be inside you now or I swear to god, I’ll go crazy,” he grits as he one-handedly takes care of his zipper, tugging it down and simply taking his cock out without bothering removing his pants all the way off.  He is shaking so bad he wonders if he’ll be able to hold it in any longer, his dick throbs painfully hard with the need to be inside Nino, to come and spill his orgasm inside Nino’s body. “So please, let me… allow me to be inside you, I  beg you –“

“O-Oh-chan, god –“ Nino mewls, husky and hungry, and it’s all he could do not to fuck Nino hard and fast. Even then, even the almost blinding need to shove his cock inside Nino, he knows he can’t because he doesn’t want to hurt Nino so despite the urge, he does his best to be gentle. Pressing soft kisses to Nino’s navel when he kneels down to part Nino’s legs, he did it as tenderly as he possibly could.

He lifts one of Nino’s legs and Nino dutifully hooks it around his waist; Nino has his teeth digging into his own bottom lip to probably keep himself from crying out. Nino’s arms are around his shoulders, hanging on for dear life as he grasps Nino’s hips with one hand and guides his erection into Nino’s waiting entrance with the other.

He breathes in deep and leans forward to catch Nino’s mouth into a grateful, then murmurs, “I won’t take long, I promise,” before he pushes all the way in, swallowing Nino’s cries as his hips work into fucking Nino earnestly against the stall’s wall. Two, three hard thrusts and he finds himself grabbing Nino around the waist, their lips locked together as he lifts Nino up effortlessly, fucking Nino hard like this, with Nino’s arms and legs wrapped around his neck and waist respectively as he pounds into the heat of Nino’s body.

“Close –“ Nino chants into his mouth, hips rolling to meet his, and god, he feels that he is, too. He couldn’t even remember the last time he is this turned on, but maybe because he always feels like this when he is with Nino so he doesn’t bother remembering anymore. His dick is so hard that it is borderline painful, the feel of Nino’s heat encasing him is perfection all on its own. “O-Oh-chan –“

He tugs Nino by the nape of his neck to mash their mouths together, jerks hips twice as hard and twice as fast, groaning and shuddering as he comes and comes like he’s never going to stop. Nino clenches his muscles around him and he muffles his shout into Nino’s mouth at the overwhelming surge of pleasure and holds Nino tight when Nino follows him to the edge as Nino convulses against him.

+++

There are bruises on Nino’s hips and he presses his mouth against them, soft and tender as he helps Nino put on his pants back. Nino doesn’t say anything even after he’s done tucking Nino’s shirt into the waistband of Nino’s jeans, fingering Nino’s hips as he leans to rest his forehead against Nino’s.

“I’m sorry,” he mouths, apologies spilling out from his mouth a little too late but he knows Nino understands. The way he feels about Nino is something he can no longer control and he knows that Nino knows it, too, because he’ll bet his own life that he’s not the only one who feels this way but so is Nino.

“Don’t,” Nino says, reaching up to trace his jaw with the tips of Nino’s fingers and he leans into it, to Nino’s touch for as long as he can. “Never apologize for something we know we both want, okay? It’s fine,” Nino tells him, his voice soft and understanding, just like always.

“I should have been more gentle,” he tells Nino’s hair, palming Nino’s hips and simply basking on the feeling of having Nino near after weeks of not being able to feel this closeness that brings life to his lonely existence, at least before he met Nino. “Now you  have bruises all over you because I couldn’t be bother to control myself when I’m inside you and it’s –“

“Shh,” Nino hushes him, “I don’t mind the bruises,” Nino says with a little hint of smile in his voice, raising his head to press his mouth against the tip of his nose. “They’re reminders that I have been with you, so it’s alright. I look at them when I’m starting to miss you, and they remind me of the way you feel inside me, the way you touch me, the way you make me feel when you’re so deep into me that I can no longer think properly. So it’s okay,”

“Nino,”

“You only have about an hour left before you had to go home, right?” Nino asks, but he sounded anything but because Nino can read his thoughts and he’s sure that Nino just learned about his mate being sick. “Come on, I’ll show you where you can buy those pre-packaged dinner you were looking for,” Nino says, stepping away from the wall and out from his arms but he tugs him right back, one hand against the nape of Nino’s neck as he presses their foreheads together.

“In a bit,” he whispers, lips finding Nino’s own. “One more kiss, please?” he asks, more like begs, lets Nino in his thoughts and lets Nino know he’s willing to give up more than a few minutes just to be with him.

“Make it two,” Nino breathes as he smiles through the kiss.

 


	13. Cruel

Nino’s face is buried against the sheets and his cock is buried inside Nino’s ass, hips undulating in an unbroken rhthym when his gaze found Jun’s, the darkness of the room obviously isn’t enough to hide the way Jun’s face is masked with fury as Jun watches him fuck another man on someone else’s bed.

For a moment, he thought of stopping, but then Nino moans his name – raspy and hoarse, long and drawn out, and everything just sort of spiraled out of his control then, his hips moving on their own accord as he fucks Nino hard into the mattress, hips working continuously without stopping, his gaze locked on Jun’s.

“ _Yes yes yes_ –“ Nino moans a mewling kind of moan, blissfully unaware about the current predicament the two of them are in at the moment. He knows he should be worried, should be aware of the consequences but he couldn’t find it in him to give a shit about anything when Nino is panting and writhing beneath him, and his cock is buried inside the perfect heat of Nino’s body.

“Oh-chan, please ---“

He rolls his hips into Nino, balls smacking into Nino’s ass, fingers gripping Nino’s hips tightly; Jun’s eyes are wide and his expression is grim, but he keeps looking, keeps standing in the doorway with his fists clenched and arms hanging limply down his sides. He wants to tear his gaze away but doing that would mean surrender, defeat, apologies and he’s not going to do that.

He won’t apologize for this because he wants this – he wants every single thing about this and it doesn’t matter that he is with the person who isn’t his mate – a person whose marks doesn’t match his because fuck the marks, fuck the rules and everything that comes before it, everything about this feels right and that’s what matters.

His heart swells everytime he’s with Nino, the amazing kind of ache that makes leaving him, over and over again, difficult. Nino never asks when he’ll be back, just waits patiently for a time when he can come and be with Nino again, and he wishes, every single time, that he doesn’t have to leave Nino when they’re together. With Nino, there’s happiness and so many other things he doesn’t feel when he’s Jun. There’s that wonderful tingle at the tips of his fingertips everytime he’s touching Nino that he never, not even once, experienced when he is with Jun.

Nino rights everything in his life, from his thoughts to his beliefs, down to every fiber of his being that had been embedded with marks ever since he was born. Everything he thought was right was proved wrong the minute Nino looked his way, and every single thing he thought he was capable of giving Jun he had given Nino without even thinking. 

Jun might be the one whose marks match those of his, but Jun isn’t the one he needs to be able to live. Nino is the person who owns half of his soul, the air he breathes, and without Nino, there’d be no life. 

Marks or not, he’s not going to give Nino up. 

“I’m coming – Nino – ahh!” he exclaims and slams home, watches Jun as Jun watches him, shuddering violently as he pounds into Nino’s body. 

He doesn’t care about the consequences, about the rules, about the marks.

He only cares about Nino, and that’s all there is to it.


	14. Marks of Desire

He pulls out of Nino’s body with a wince, hears Nino’s gasps along with his own as he catches Nino around the waist easily before Nino hits the mattress face-first. As always, Nino is loose-limbed and pliant after sex that moving him is too easy, flipping Nino over on his back and pressing his palms over Nino’s heated cheeks and damp forehead, stroking Nino’s skin with soothing touches as he carefully lowers Nino down to the bed.

He is sure, even without looking, that Jun is still there, still waiting, still watching him and Nino, though it is surprising. With everything Jun has just witnessed and found out, he is shocked that his mate hasn’t made tearing Nino’s house down his first priority, or killing him, either of the two would have been highly possible if it were him on the other end, and had to be the one to witness some other guy fuck Nino like he did himself seconds before.

“O-Oh-chan –“ Nino calls his name with his eyes still closed, too exhausted to even open them to stare at him properly; Nino’s hands are on his face, pulling him down for a kiss which he gives in to easily, obligingly, his fingers going around the back of Nino’s neck at the same time to find that one spot at the base of Nino’s skull he knows is there. He is going to put Nino to sleep, because for one, he doesn’t need Nino to witness this oncoming confrontation, and if anything, he wants to spare Nino the embarrassment he knows he’s about to face head on the minute he steps out of Nino’s bedroom door.

“Please don’t tell me you want more,” he murmurs, teasing Nino’s mouth with little nips, blocking his thoughts with the images of Nino on his lap, squirming in delight as Nino impales himself with his cock. “You can barely open your eyes, Kazu,” he adds, nosing Nino’s cheek as he circles the base of Nino’s skull with the tips of his thumb.

“Always –  _want you_ – always – Oh-chan,”

He hums in agreement and kisses Nino quiet again. It’s difficult to keep Nino out of his head when Nino is otherwise coherent, but when Nino is like this, it’s a little easier. He’s just grateful that Nino’s thoughts was bombarded with his and Nino’s combined desires to reach the peak that Nino wasn’t able to invade his thoughts when his mate appeared into the picture.

And it’s one more thing that baffles him, time and time again, how Nino is able to do that when Jun couldn’t.

“Okay, but later, yeah? You’re too exhausted now, time for you to take a nap,”

He works his thumb around the spot where he knows he could find the tiny bump, finding it after the third try while he’s still kissing Nino. Matsu-nii taught him about the importance of this technique, and he never thought he’d ever get to use it on anyone, especially on Nino, but right now, he is glad he took Matsu-nii’s training seriously.

“Can’t,” Nino mumbles, sleepy and adorably incoherent. God, he wants Nino so much it hurts. “I’ll – stay awake, you – might be gone when I wake up,”

“No,” he tells Nino’s hair, “I promise I’m not going anywhere tonight. I’ll stay here, gonna watch over you while you sleep, okay?” he says, pulling back just far enough to talk, mouth still mostly against Nino’s own as he breathes Nino’s name, murmurs something into Nino’s mouth before he thumbs at the spot he found and puts just enough pressure to it, kissing Nino briefly and pulling away to watch Nino’s face go lax, his body following after.

Nino is fast asleep when he presses two soft kisses over Nino’s closed eyes, breathes quiet promises into Nino’s cheek before he jumps out of the bed, still gloriously naked, to join his mate who is still lurking outside the door, unmoving and quiet through the lingering darkness.

He picks up Nino’s sweat pants on his way outside, putting it on without bothering thinking how the sight of him wearing someone else’s clothes is going to be another fucking blow to his mate’s disposition, but he cares too little about anything right now, aside from Nino and how he should protect him from his mate’s obvious rage.

“Jun,” he calls the moment he slips out of the room and has made sure he’s locked the door behind him, keeping his voice even despite the raging emotions rolling over him. “What the hell are you doing here?” he asks, then, “How the fuck did you find me?” he follows, copying Jun’s stance and leaning back against the wall to Jun’s right.

Jun’s eyes are shining so brightly in the dark. “I should ask you the same,” Jun says, turning to face him, then follows it with, “I tracked you through your scent,” Jun says, “to answer both your questions,”

He means to laugh mirthlessly but it came out sounding like a snarl just the same. “My scent? What, are you a dog now or something?”

Jun shrugs his stiff shoulders. “It would have been easier to track you through your marks but since we haven’t  _reached_  that certain point where I could be able to do just that, I’d have to improvise. I can’t track your phone because you rarely use it, and the GPS device I’ve attached on your shoes was oddly sending me signals from halfway across the country,” Jun explains.

“Very thorough,” he comments blandly, then, “oh, the shoes? I traded them for a set of trump cards for Nino to that travelling merchant I met on my way here,”

“Nino, huh,” Jun hums in thought, though he doesn’t look like he’s actually thinking. “so that’s the name of that guy you were drilling just now. Funny how he seemed to be immensely enjoying it, must be because it’s either his mate wasn’t good enough, if he has one,” Jun says and he realizes he’s balling his hands to fist when Jun follows through with, “Or he’s enjoying it because he thought you’re a free man; he didn’t know you’re mated, I believe?”

He shrugs, but the way he’s back has straightened betrays the nonchalance he is so poorly conveying. He wonders if Jun can see it.

“He does,” he answers.

“And he doesn’t mind?” Jun counters, mouth twisting bitterly that even the darkness isn’t able to hide. “This is getting interesting by the minute,”

“Why are you here, exactly?” he growls, “if you want answers, then just ask the right questions and stop beating around the bushes,”

Jun’s spine visibly stiffens, and god, he knows he doesn’t have the fucking right, not even the tiniest bit, to be the one to call the shots here when he is the one at fault. But it’s difficult to stay calm when he knows he’s brought trouble to Nino’s door and now it is certainly out to bite them both in the ass because he can’t even be man enough to accept his mistakes and be fucking apologetic about it.

“I  _am_  your mate, Satoshi,” Jun grits out, as if it explains everything, as if it don’t already. “Been your mate for over a year now but you never, not even once, let me touch you the way you let that man touch you; I’ve only managed to take a peek at your dick once or twice, and the most I got from you was three lousy handjobs, which were done probably out of fucking sympathy or obligation,”

He narrows his eyes, lips slashing into a thin line. “What the hell are you getting at?”

Jun reaches up to run his fingers through his unruly hair. “And you fucked him without protection,” Jun follows through as if he hasn’t heard him, his eyes shining with silent fury, his voice mars with disbelief. “You – you do know what it means when you – oh god, I can’t believe this,” Jun exclaims,  then, “We’ve been together for over a year and there was never a time you allowed such intimacy. I thought at first it has something to do with the fact that you didn’t expect us to be mated exactly the same time we went in for screening, when we found out our marks matched so I respected that but after a while, after so long and after seeing you with that man -- I realized you’ve never looked at me the same way you looked at that man, as if –“

“What the hell do you want me to say, Jun?” he asks, knows that if anything, this is harder for Jun than it’s ever going to be. His sympathy’s not going to be enough compensation to what he’s done – to what he knows he will keep doing, but it doesn’t mean he should not feel the least bit concerned about his mate’s right to punish him for this.

“I want you to tell me what the fuck do you think you’re doing, fucking another man who isn’t your mate when you know it’s not – when you know you’re not supposed to –“ Jun’s words trails and he is looking at him as if he couldn’t believe what he is seeing either, as if Jun knows he’s got all the right to drag his cheating ass out of Nino’s house and beat the living shit out of him outside for everyone to see. Jun also looks torn between questioning him and questioning him some more, but he probably doesn’t know how to phrase them or how to even begin.

For what it’s worth, he wishes he know the answers to them. “I know,” he says, quiet this time, “It’s not – I don’t know how to describe it but – but with Nino, things are different – I  _am_  different when I’m with him, someone that I could never be when I am with you, I’m sorry,”

Jun gasps sharply and goddammit, how longer is he going to keep hurting his mate just because his heart happens to beat for someone else?

“I don’t – I don’t understand,” Jun says, his voice tainted with misery that the sound of it would have been enough to pain him, too, but as it was, the anomaly that is him is making it difficult to feel anything other than slight discomfort. Of course it’s awful to be standing here, being questioned by that one person who is supposed to know him best, the person who should be able to read his thoughts and actions but couldn’t because even after so long, he hasn’t given him the right to.

The right he is supposed to have given Jun, he has given wholeheartedly to Nino, despite their unmatched marks, fucking Nino the first time he met him and giving Nino access to his thoughts despite their distance.

And that is what’s made everything difficult -- for someone whose marks don’t match his, Nino is perfectly attuned to him, the way he knows Jun could never be. But maybe it is because of the fact that he and Jun hasn’t fucked yet, because they said it, too, that the minute they mated for real, they’d be able to communicate through thoughts and his mate would be able to pinpoint his whereabouts through their marks.

He knew there is a reason why he hadn’t touched Jun that way, why he hadn’t fucked Jun that way.

Because then he’d meet Nino, hadn’t realized he’d been waiting for Nino until he saw him.

He looks up and stares at the face of the man whose marks match his and for once, he feels genuinely bad for him. There’s that shine on Jun’s eyes that doesn’t have anything to do with the tiny sliver of light pilfering through the window of Nino’s house, and he is biting his lips hard enough to draw blood to probably keep himself from crying.

He wonders how many times he’s made Jun cry, the same way he’s made Nino cry a lot of times since this thing started, too, and god, he feels like a first-grade jerk for hurting them both but it’s how things are going to be until he figures out how to reverse this, if there is even a way to do that.

He wonders if there’s any way to stop this, but knows that until he finds the answers to why he feels this way for Nino, this deep connection he only ever feels when he’s with Nino the way he’s supposed to feel for Jun, but doesn’t, then there’s no definite way to stop this.

The only thing that will put an end to this is if he’s buried six feet under the ground, no longer breathing and feeling anything then, maybe.  But just the thought of leaving Nino that way brings him an ache so fierce he wonders if he’s ever going to be able to allow even death to separate him from Nino, that the very thought of leaving Nino to the hands of his supposed mate repulses him he feels like killing whoever that person is before that person even manages to stand two feet away from Nino.

And yet here stands his mate, looking lost and miserable and yet he couldn’t even bring himself to care, couldn’t even bring himself to apologize knowing what it would mean in the end. He can’t, because he knows he’s going to end up doing it all over again, that despite the fact that his heart aches for Jun, too, it is still isn’t enough to make him stop wanting Nino.

He reaches up to trace the marks scattered across his chest without even looking, knows that they’re mirrors of the marks hidden underneath Jun’s shirt, too, and wonders not for the first time since he first laid eyes on Nino, if there is something about these matching marks they are yet to uncover. He wonders if he’s the only one like this, whose heart beats for another person despite the unmatched marks marring their bodies.

“If it makes you feel better, Jun,” he whispers, reaching out to take Jun’s face in between his hands, wondering why Jun has to close his eyes as he touches Jun’s jaw instead of pulling away, instead of fighting him back.

“I don’t understand it either,”

 


	15. Half of you

He goes back inside to join Nino on the bed. Jun left a couple of hours ago but he couldn’t bring himself to move from where Jun left him until he is sure he is calm enough to do so; his heart aches for Jun but there’s nothing he can do about that now.

Nino doesn’t even stir when he moves behind the younger man, fitting himself against Nino’s back perfectly. This is another thing that mystifies him, the way he and Nino fit together as if they’re two parts of one whole, two completely different beings that compliments each other so perfectly when they’re together. He reaches around to splay his hand against Nino’s chest, allows the gentle beat of Nino’s heart beneath his palm loll him to calmness the way it always does as he presses his nose against Nino’s hair to breathe him in.

“You didn’t leave,” murmurs Nino and the sound of his voice jolts him awake, blinking through the darkness. He realizes Nino has managed to pull himself a bit farther away to give him some space. Nino is lying on his side, his head propped up on his elbow and he is staring at him in that way that makes his insides tremble.

He shakes his head, swallows past the lump that’s formed in his throat. It is difficult but he at least manages to keep his voice from quaking the next time he opens his mouth to speak.

“I said I was staying, right?” he says, raising his arm with all the intention of reaching over to touch Nino’s face but stops himself mid-reach. Even through the lingering darkness, he could see that Nino’s eyes are overly bright and his chin is quivering.

“Nino?”

“Your  _mate_ was here,” Nino whispers, voice cracking in the middle and it sure feels like his heart just cracked in half, too. He only has a moment to wonder how in hell Nino found out Jun was here when he realizes Nino's ability to read his mind, his thoughts when he isn't guarding them. “He – he saw us,”

He is shaking his head and reaching over to tug Nino towards him, ignoring the way Nino's body is so stiff and unwilling, as he brackets his arms around Nino and pulls him in. God, his heart is racing and that painful twist in his chest is unbearable, most especially when he feels the way Nino is shaking all over despite his arms holding Nino's body firmly close to him.

A hitching sob tears itself from the center of Nino’s chest and he feels like his life is slowly being sucked out of him. It’s so painful that he finds himself hugging Nino so tight it is almost claustrophobic but he doesn’t care and it seems like Nino doesn’t, too.

“Don’t,” he whispers back, into Nino’s hair and Nino trembles in return. “Nino,”

“This is wrong, Oh-chan,” Nino says, miserable. He wonders why that is the case when everything feels right when he is with Nino, that every single confusing thing in his life only started making sense the minute his gaze found Nino's face, when his lips touched Nino's own.

He shakes his head again, unable to say anything coherent for a moment; he snatches Nino’s hand and tugs it up, lacing their fingers together and placing it over his chest where his heart is thundering underneath.

“Feel  _that_?” he murmurs, voice as shaky as his resolve because he is honestly scared that Nino will want to do the right thing, that Nino will push him away, that Nino will ask him to go back to his mate where they both know he belongs. But he knows where he wants to be, and it’s not where Jun is but  _here_ , with Nino, or anywhere as long as he and Nino are together.

His heart is beating like crazy, like the simple fact that Nino is  touching him isn’t enough to calm his racing pulse down. “The only person who could do that to my heart is  _you_ , Nino, and I’m not that stupid to go back to someone who doesn’t make me feel alive like you do,” he tells Nino, gruffly, grabbing the back of Nino’s neck and leaning in to mash their mouths together. He kisses Nino like he won't be able to again, stealing Nino's breathe as he moans Nino's name into the kiss.

“Kick me out if you want to,” he says, voice ragged, pushing Nino on his back and straddling Nino at the same time. “But I’m not going back to Jun,” he says, tugging Nino’s sweat pants down and ducking down to swallow Nino in. He pulls back just far enough to talk, pumping Nino's cock to full hardness, eyes finding Nino's gaze in the dark.

"O-Oh-chan -"

Nino's hands found his face, fingers tender on his cheek as he licks Nino's cock from base to tip.

“I belong to you," he tells Nino, fiercely, mouth parted open as he swirls his tongue along the leaking tip. "and you to me; Jun just needs to accept that because there's no way I am going back to him just  because our marks are stupid enough to match,"

"S-Satoshi,"

"No," he licks Nino again, pausing for a few seconds to suck Nino in, inch by careful inch before he pulls away. "Don't make me go away because I _can't_ , Kazu," he says, voice shaking, his chest heaving hard as he swallows the urge to cry. "Please, I -- I can't --- I don't know how to live without you now, so please, don't --"

"Oh god --"

Nino is pulling him up before he could even say anything, their mouths meeting halfway for a kiss that is both passionate and tender.

 

 


	16. Rule Breaker

He wonders if it’s his fault that Jun is unhappy.  
  
Maybe it is, maybe helping Jun track his mate when he knew exactly what Jun will find isn’t the best idea he’s ever came up with but.  
  
But it has to be done, and well, he doesn’t know why it brought him such odd satisfaction to know that Jun couldn’t track his mate through their marks. It’s a twisted kind of thing to feel like this over someone else’s mate, but he guesses he’s not the only one.  
  
For all its worth, Jun’s mate was busy fucking someone else and that in itself is something he knows he shouldn’t care about but he does and it’s fucking with his mind  around no matter how much he loathes it. He hates Jun's mate for deliberately hurting the other man, that's a given, but on the other hand, he wonders why there's this stupid part of him that is extremely satisfied with the fact that despite being mated for over a year, Jun's  mate hasn't touched Jun the way he probably should have, that Jun, after a year of being mated, is still a virgin.  
  
"He was fucking him for all he's worth and I just stood there, gaping like a stupid fish out of water!" Jun grumbles, grabbing the bottle of wine he's prepared and drinks from it straight, his face red and his eyes puffy. He wants to say something but he figures Jun doesn't need his opinions, and he is pretty sure Jun didn't come here for one.  
  
"Sho-san, my mate fucked that man without protection and he -- he was touching him as if he was made of vulnerable glass," Jun says, his voice so miserable that it's making things inside his chest ache, the rage he feels over Jun's mate is so palpable he wonders why he hadn't exploded yet.  
  
"He said that man is different, that he feels so different when he's with him, what the fuck was up with that? They told us to find the one who bears the same marks as we have because that's the person who will complete us, but --" Jun pauses here, his eyes losing the life he once saw in them. He wants to hurt the person who hurt Jun but how could he do that when he knows he doesn't have the right to?  
  
"He said -- he said he doesn't care about the marks now," Jun says, his voice shaking beyond his control and god, Sho wants to take him into his arms and tell him he's just the same. That he cares too little about finding the one whose marks match his because right now, the only person he wants to mate with is Jun. "He said the only thing he cares about now is that man -- that Nino --"  
  
He gasps sharply, because it's never a good thing to be caught off-guard, especially when he's supposed to be handling things far better than he is doing now.  
  
"D-Did you just say Nino?" he asks, watches as Jun raises his head to look at him, and nods.  
  
"Yes," Jun says, "Why, d'you know him?" Jun asks, grabbing the bottle and taking another swig.  
  
Does he? He's not sure how to answer Jun's question but seriously, saying that he knows Nino is probably an understatement. Not when he knows Nino a great deal, knows him more than he ought to because --  
  
"Yes," he murmurs, catching Jun's eyes and wishing this is the part where everything gets better. But no. "We grew up together, actually, but Nino sort of eloped three years ago, at the same time we both went in for screening,"  
  
"What? Why?"  
  
He reaches over and takes the bottle from Jun's hand. "Nino bears the marks that match mine," he says, then, "He's my mate, well, supposedly,"  
  
"Supposedly?" Jun parrots.  
  
He nods. "Yes," he agrees, "but since he's my brother, taking him as a mate was problematic," he explains, "not to mention, a sin,"


	17. Lost Battle

  
“B-Brother?” Matsumoto-san’s face is masked with confusion, but it doesn’t make him look any less beautiful. Sho’s heart and mind is at war with each other, the need to reach over and cup the other man’s face in his hand is so strong he has to breathe in a couple of times to calm himself down.   
  
“The one whose marks match yours?” Matsumoto-san follows through, and he finds himself nodding in return. “This – wow, this is the first time I heard such a thing,”  
  
“I’m not so sure about that,” he says, shrugging; well, it’s the truth, they might not be the only one with the same case but so far, he thinks he and his brother are one of the firsts to actually not go through the whole mating process despite their parents’ apparent willingness for them to at least try.  
  
He’s just glad that Kazu was as disgusted at the idea as he himself was.   
  
Matsumoto-san bows his head. “I – I’m sorry,” the other man apologizes under his breath and reels back, surprised.   
  
“For what?”  
  
“For saying those b-bad things I said about  _my_  mate’s – about your brother,” Matsumoto-san whispers, his shoulders sagging in misery and god, he really couldn’t stand watching him like this. He doesn’t know what else to do, or maybe he does, it’s just that he is too scared to do it.   
  
He reaches over and puts his hand over one of Matsumoto-san shoulders. “Don’t be,” he returns, squeezing the other man’s shoulder lightly. “It’s not your fault, alright? You’re hurt, and it’s because of your mate and my brother – you have all the right to say all those ugly things you said and maybe more but –“  
  
“I just – I can’t understand why this has to happen,” Matsumoto-san mutters, “I – why should the marks match when you’re going to meet someone else who you will feel strongly for in the end anyway?”  
  
“Did your mate say that?”  
  
Matsumoto-san shakes his head. “Not with the exact same words, but, yeah. And well, with the way he treats your brother, it’s clear that he means more to my mate than someone he fucks around with occasionally,” he winces at this and Matsumoto-san apologizes under his breath again.  
  
“But what about you?” he asks, scooting closer to Matsumoto-san’s side without him realizing it.   
  
“Me? What do you mean?”  
  
He blinks, knows that his gaze is locked on Matsumoto-san’s pretty, pretty mouth and the tiny dot on Matsumoto-san’s upper lip. “Do you feel strongly about your mate? Do you feel like he is really who the marks said is your soul mate?”  
  
Matsumoto-san actually hesitates, blinks and opens his mouth to obviously say something only to close it again.  
  
  
“I – I never really thought about it like that,”   
  
He breathes sharply when Matsumoto-san’s gaze slides down to his own mouth, finds Matsumoto-san watching him as he watch him.  
  
The throbbing ache in his chest returns full force, and his fingers twitch to reach out and touch Matsumoto-san’s smooth skin but he holds himself back again. Matsumoto-san looks confused, but something in the way he regards him now is enough to make his pulse accelerate.  
  
It doesn’t help that right now, he knows what he wants and he’s sure as hell could see it in Matsumoto-san’s eyes that he wants the same thing, too.  
  
“I’m not sure it’s meant to be thought about anyway,” he mutters, eyes locked on Matsumoto-san’s sinfully gorgeous lips. “I’m sure we’re supposed to feel it when it happens, not think about it beforehand, the way we’ve always been taught to do,” god, he wants to kiss him so bad right now it’s driving him crazy, wondering if it’s exactly the same thing Matsumoto-san’s mate and his brother felt for each other the first time they met. “I think having matching marks doesn’t necessarily mean that two people are fated to be together, or that they’re bound to fall in love with one another. Marks or no marks, I think we were supposed to find the person who has the ability to make our knees weak just by being near,”  
  
Matsumoto-san’s gaze meets his. “W-What do you mean?” Matsumoto-san whispers.  
  
Oh hell. “I meant this,” he whispers back, throwing caution to the wind as he cups Matsumoto-san’s jaw and covers Matsumoto-san’s mouth with his own.


	18. Giving In

Matsumoto-san gasps and it’s the sweetest sound he’s ever heard, moaning softly in return as he drags his fingertips along Matsumoto-san’s jaw. The man’s skin is so smooth beneath his palm, like a woman’s, but also different; his lips are soft and the inside of his mouth even softer, and god, he could spend the rest of his days kissing Matsumoto-san without getting tired of it.  
  
He pulls back just far enough to let the air back into his lungs before he is tilting his head again to cover Matsumoto-san’s mouth with his own, tiny frustrated sounds spilling from the back of his throat when he isn’t able to because then Matsumoto-san is backing away and is looking at him wildly.  
  
 _“Oh god, oh god_  –“  
  
He is moving so quickly to grab Matsumoto-san by the nape of his neck, tugging his face down so they could rest their foreheads together. “Hey, calm down, calm down,” he breathes, stroking the back of Matsumoto-san’s neck tenderly. The man still looks fairly terrified, his pupils blown wide and he is shaking all over, but he has thankfully stopped struggling and is now completely still in his hold.  
  
“S-Sakurai-san –“  
  
He shakes his head and moves his other hand to stroke Matsumoto-san’s cheek softly. “Don’t freak out,” he whispers, though he knows it’s not enough to reassure Matsumoto-san now, most especially after the kiss.   
  
Matsumoto-san shudders anyway. “H-How am I supposed to stay calm when – when – oh god, what did I just –“  
  
“We kissed,” he mutters, fingering the sides of Matsumoto-san’s mouth and god, he wants to do it again, wants to seal his mouth over Matsumoto-san’s own for another taste, but he held himself. Instead, he takes one of Matsumoto-san’s hands and places it over his chest, the spot where his heart is beating like crazy underneath at the same time he places his over Matsumoto-san’s own, giddy at the feel of Matsumoto-san’s heart doing it’s own crazy dance inside the man’s ribcage.  
  
“Feel that?” he murmurs, closing his eyes and letting his senses take over everything, wondering if this is what falling in love feels like, if this is what Matsumoto-san’s mate and his brother felt for each other the very first time their eyes met.   
  
“W-What –“  
  
“Our hearts are beating in tandem,” he whispers, squeezing Matsumoto-san’s hand and smiling through the conflicting feeling of wanting to kiss Matsumoto-san endless and making sure he doesn’t scare the other man into running away, screaming. “I – amazing, right?”  
  
“B-But what does this mean?” Matsumoto-san whispers back, his breath coming out as ragged pants and god help him, he needs all the patience he could muster to keep himself from just doing the man right here and now.  
  
He hollows out a laugh that means to be confident though it came out sounding anything but. He forces out a smile as he fingers the man's lower lip gently and shakes his head.  
  
"No idea," he whispers, and though it's not the truth, he doesn't need to point it out. Of course he knows what this is, knows exactly what he wants when he leaned in and kissed Matsumoto-san's lips but seeing Matsumoto-san now, he's not sure if the other man is sober enough to accept the fact that he's somewhat being seduced by someone that isn't his mate.  "but the hell with it, because I fucking like this,"  
  
"I -- w-what?"  
  
He takes the opportunity to cup Matsumoto-san's jaw and thumbs at the corners of his mouth.  
  
"I'm gonna kiss you again, Matsumoto-san," he whispers, giddy with desire, his fingers tingle in delicious anticipation. "So you can either tell me to stop or forever hold your peace because once I start, I'm not sure I'm going to be able to stop,"  
  
Matsumoto-san's eyes are wild and wide as he leans in slowly. "Shall I stop or --?"  
  
Matsumoto-san's breath is warm and his face is flushed red, closing his eyes at the same time he himself gasps sharply at the obvious gesture of surrender.  
  
"No," Matsumoto-san whispers and god, if that's not enough to make him want to do things he knows he have no right to do, then he doesn't know what else would. "Don't stop, Sho-san,"  
  
He groans and cups Matsumoto-san's firmly in place. "I won't,"


	19. Evolution

There are fingers sliding in and out of his ass and he feels entirely detached from his own body, gasping for breath as if he’s drowning, like he’s on freefall.   
  
He’s dizzy with the onslaught of too many sensations, so different from the ones he usually feels when he knows he is with his mate. Everything is heightened despite his alcohol-induced haze, moaning quite loudly at every swipe of the man’s wicked tongue across the head of his cock.  
  
“ _Oh oh_  ----“ he mewls, eyes tightly shut as his legs parted on their own, providing the man with an even bigger space to shift into, his hips arching off the bed when the man’s mouth settles over him, sucking him in in one go. “Ah, shit!” he half-shouts into the pillow, shuddering as those dexterous fingers touch something inside him that has him shaking within seconds.  
  
God, this it’s his first time with this man like this and yet the man touches and kisses him expertly, as if the man knew exactly what to do to break him down into a shaking, quivering mess.  
  
“You’ve never done this before, right?” Sho-san breathes the question easily into the skin of his thighs, making him shiver yet again for a completely different reason. His breathing is harsh, ragged, shaking the sudden images of his mate’s face off angrily.   
  
This isn’t the time to feel guilty about doing something he’s seen his mate do to someone else, knows that if anything, he’s not doing this just to get back at his mate for deliberately hurting him, but for something else entirely.  
  
It possibly has anything to do with the fact that right now, he wants Sho-san so much it hurts.  
  
He’s not sure why but Sho-san’s touch is waking something in him he didn’t know existed, this need he didn’t know he possessed until Sho-san’s mouth met his; his chest feels tight and he’s having trouble focusing his attention to anything else aside from Sho-san’s fingers moving inside him and Sho-san’s mouth breathing warm air against his over-sensitive skin.  
  
“I – _no_ ,” he returns, still breathing raggedly, fingers scrambling for purchase and finding the sheets beneath him to hold on to.   
  
Sho-san’s mouth, wet and hot and demanding, goes back down on him for a few blissful seconds before it leaves him trembling again. “I’m glad,” Sho-san returns, pulling his fingers out one by one and making him moan at the sudden lost.   
  
“I –“ he says, or at least starts to, but finds that he doesn’t know what to say. His throat is dry and his mouth even drier, meeting Sho-san’s eyes as Sho-san rises above him and reaches down to cup his face. “Are you – are we –“ he asks, more like stutters, and he feels Sho-san’s thumb stroking soothing touches across his cheek.   
  
“It’s fine if you don’t want to,” Sho-san says, his smile so gentle, the feel of his hand against his skin is light, so is Sho-san’s weight settling over him. “I can just – I’ll make you feel good even without –“  
  
He realized he is shaking his head so fiercely when Sho-san leans down and folds his palm against the base of his neck.   
  
“Alright, alright, fine. I just. I don’t want to hurt you and I –“ Sho-san pauses here to press a soft, possibly a reassuring kiss against the side of his mouth. “I don’t know what I will do if you – if you end up hating me forever after we -- after  _this_ ,”  
  
He finds his hands moving on their own to grab Sho-san by the hips, arching his own up from the bed, letting him feel how badly he needs him.   
  
“I know I’m going to end up hating you if all you’re planning on doing all night is talk instead of doing something about  _this_ ,” he boldly returns, thrusting up and tugging Sho-san’s head down for a kiss.   
  
His mouth feels tender when they pull apart, and he opens his eyes to find Sho-san’s eyes locked on his chest, tracing the marks scattered across his skin. He wants to look away but finds that he couldn’t, feels the unfamiliar warmth spreading all over him catching the thoughtful look on Sho-san’s face.   
  
He blinks once and stays completely still, waits until the other man is done mapping the marks on his skin when he sees the expression on the other man’s face changes, his mouth gapes open.  
  
“What?” he utters, confused, pushing himself up on his elbows as Sho-san scrambles to squint at his chest, also moving to sit up. “What is it?”  
  
Sho-san looks up and there in his eyes, Jun swears he sees something that resembles awe and something entirely else.   
  
“Matsumoto-san,” Sho-san calls, reaching up to finger the corners of his mouth, his other hand he leaves plastered against Jun’s chest. “The _marks_ ,”  
  
He looks down at his own chest, following the path Sho-san’s fingers are tracing. “What about them?”  
  
Sho-san’s voice is shaking when he answers,   
  
“Your marks,” Sho-san whispers, “they’re changing,” he says, and Jun’s eyes widen in return, watching as the marks do change in front of his very eyes.   
  
“I – what the hell?”  
  
Sho-san huffs a laugh that sounded anything but giddy, reaching over to cup his chin and tipping his face up before he lets go only to point at the marks marring his own, naked chest.   
  
“I -- you see that?” Sho-san breathes, leaning in closer to hum the words right next to his ear, his whole body shaking . “Your marks -- they're changing --" Sho-san whispers.   
  
He looks down at himself, not knowing how to react or what to say when Sho-san follows this with an awed,  
  
" -- they're changing to match mine, Matsumoto-san!"


	20. Mated

Amazing,” Sho-san breathes in a mixture of wonder and pure bliss, his hips not losing its rhthym despite the fact that the older man has to support them both, keeping them both upright as he fucks him relentlessly from behind. “The marks really are  _changing_ ,” Sho-san adds, fingering the marks on Jun’s chest and groaning quietly under his breath as he clamps around Sho-san’s cock involuntarily.   
  
“G-God –“ he hisses, eyes wide as he stares at the reflection of himself in front of the full-length mirror Sho-san has in his room --  naked and panting, as Sho-san drills his ass tirelessly. He couldn’t take his eyes off himself, at the unfamiliar marks now marring his chest and wondering how it’s even possible for the marks to change, now, when he’s sure no one’s marks ever did.   
  
But not that he’s complaining because at least now, there is no reason left for him to doubt his mate’s – or rather, Ohno’s unexplainable behavior towards someone else, knows that if anything, he is sure Ninomiya’s marks have changed, too, without either Ohno or Ninomiya realizing it.  
  
“I – ah --!” he half-shouts, grappling blindly for Sho-san’s arms and holding on to them for support; his knees are threatening to give out on him, pleasure singing up his spine when Sho-san rolls his hips and the action takes his cock deeper, the hard tip hitting something inside him that makes his eyes roll to the back of his head. “Oh god --!”   
  
Sho-san gives him a toothy grin through the mirror, watching the older man’s hand tracing possessive patterns across the marks, along the sweat-marred skin of his chest; he is bucking back into Sho-san’s every thrusts, groaning in return as Sho-san bends his knees and jerks into him so fast he nearly loses all of his ability to think straight when Sho-san hits that spot inside him yet again.  
  
“If you didn’t tell me this is your first time, it would be very hard to believe that it is,” Sho-san murmurs into his ear, his breath warm and damp; god, he’s not even sure how to answer properly, for he has been robbed off of his ability to form coherent thoughts when every jerk of Sho-san’s hips is enough to make him dizzy, his blood pounding through his ears at the onslaught of too many sensation hitting him all at once.   
  
“A-Are you saying I lied?” he counters, biting his lips if only to keep himself from yelling, because Sho-san is doing that hip-thrusts again that is making everything seemed disjointed, hazy. His own cock is so hard that it’s borderline painful, and the need to come is as enticing as the fact that he wants to do it without either of them touching him.   
  
“No,” Sho-san hums, mouthing something into his shoulder and spreading his palm across his chest, feeling his thrumming heart underneath and meeting his eyes while he does so; the gesture is so damn sweet, so painfully intimate that he found himself watching Sho-san’s face, following the path Sho-san’s fingers are making as he stills for a little bit.  
  
“I mean, I was surprised,” Sho-san whispers, “because with the way you’re responding to my touch, one will think you’re used to this, but I know you’re not and that’s why I feel so goddamn lucky,"  
  
"R-Really now?"  
  
Sho-san smiles and drops a soft, soft kiss against his left shoulder blade, biting down on it gently before soothing the same spot with soft swipe of Sho-san's tongue.   
  
"Yes," Sho-san agrees, "So damn lucky,"  
  
"God, you -- Sho-san, please?"  
  
" -- and I would even drag you straight to the temple now if not for the fact that my cock's in you and we're about to come together,"  
  
"Shit, shit, Sho-san --"  
  
"Ah, Matsumoto-san, I want to --"  
  
Sho-san rolls his hips into him, fingers finding the soft skin of his hips and holding onto him tightly. "W-What -- what do you mean you want to drag me to the temple ---?"  
  
Sho-san thrusts twice and he thinks he's seeing stars right now, the sensation is overwhelming that he realizes he's shaking all over when Sho-san does it again.   
  
"Yes yes," Sho-san agrees, tonguing the lobe of his ear before he feels Sho-san's hand rounding to the front, wrapping his cock into the warm cradle of his palm. He's pushing into it with a cry, his orgasm threatening to resurface when Sho-san's movements turn sharper, rougher as Sho-san fists his cock.  
  
Then, softly, tenderly, and so completely different from the way Sho-san is fucking him, Sho-san whispers,  
  
" -- make it official, Matsumoto-san," Sho-san groans, husky and drawn out. "We're mated now, and goddammit, I am going to make it official,"  



	21. Perfect Fit

  
He woke up missing the warmth he fell asleep with the night before, jumping from the bed in automatic reflex, his heart thundering hard inside his ribcage.

His eyes automatically scan the room for Nino, fingers trembling and blindly gripping the sheets beneath him tightly, his throat is clogged with worry, wondering where Nino is. The place is so quiet save from the noises his heart is making, and the urge to throw himself to the door to find Nino is so strong he finds himself seconds away from bolting towards it when Nino emerges from behind it, balancing a cup of steaming coffee in hand.

“Oh good, you’re awake,” Nino greets with a small smile, holding out his hand. “Coffee?” Nino asks, looking a bit sheepish; he feels like his breath has been robbed off of him in a rush. With Nino’s name in his lips, he finds himself crossing the distance between him and Nino in three big strides, tugging Nino into him so hard he wonders if the coffee ended up spilled across the floor but caring so little about that as he pulls Nino close and buries his face against the side of Nino’s neck.

“Oh –“

“I thought you left,” he mutters, mouthing the words into the soft skin of Nino’s nape as he tugs Nino closer, and closer still; he’s trembling something bad and it’s worsening every goddamn second that ticks by. “I woke up and you were gone and I thought you –“

“I’m here,” Nino whispers, feel Nino’s fingers threading softly through his hair, fucking finally, as he pushes his face firmly against the dip on Nino’s neck. “I’m not going anywhere,” Nino says, then, “But you are,” Nino adds, quietly. “You have to go home… to your mate,”

He shakes his head in answer though he doesn’t say anything. Nino knows he needs to go, that it’s certainly the right thing to do at this point but he already made a promise to Nino, last night when he was inside Nino, and again when he’s beside Nino, tucked next to Nino where he knows he belongs.

“Not going anywhere,” he tells Nino, “I already told you that, didn’t I?”

Nino hums and shifts a little to probably re-arrange the coffee in his hand. “You did,” Nino agrees, “and it honestly made me happy but…but that doesn’t mean you…”

“You don’t want me to stay?” he asks, his misery palpable as he holds Nino close. “N-Nino –“

“It’s not like that,” Nino cuts in and he sounds just as miserable. “You know I’ll do anything, give everything just so I can keep you but –“

“You don’t have to do anything,” he whispers, hoarsely, pressing his mouth against Nino’s skin and feeling each shuddery breath leaving Nino’s lungs. “Just say you want me here and that’s it – fuck the rules, fuck everything, I don’t care. I’m going to stay with you and nothing and no one is going to make me do otherwise,”

“Oh-chan,”

He unburies his face from the nape of Nino’s neck and takes Nino’s own in his hand, gently, stroking Nino’s cheek with his fingertips softly. Their eyes meet and he knows even without hearing it, that Nino wants this just as much.

“Shhh,” he hushes Nino, leans in forward to press a soft kiss into Nino’s mouth. “It’ll be okay, I promise you,” he tells Nino, wishing he has the power to make it happen and even if he can’t, well that’s okay too. He’s still not going anywhere, anyway.

+++

“Yes, there – ah!” Nino exclaims, his tone dripping with want and Ohno wants to drink it in, wants to document it all but his brain is clouded with haze that makes even the simple thing as breathing difficult. His hands are fumbling and shaking; the need to touch Nino and feel every single shift Nino does when he moves inside Nino is making him dizzy, keeping his eyes open despite the need to close them as he stares and stares, committing Nino’s face into memory as he pounds into the heat of Nino’s body.

He dislikes taking Nino in this position when they’re in bed simply because he prefers staring into Nino’s eyes when he fucks Nino and he can’t do that if they’re in bed, but today he made an exemption. And it is only because Nino sweetly requested for it, for him to fuck Nino in front of his newly bought life-sized mirror, so they could watch each other closely, so he did, pulling Nino in front of it once they’ve taken care of the undressing business as quickly as they could manage it.

His cock is hard and the urge to come so badly is so overwhelming he finds himself gritting his teeth hard to keep himself from tumbling towards his orgasm too soon. He’s got Nino’s own cock in hand, teasing the slit with tiny strokes of his thumb as he watch Nino through the mirror. He’s so beautiful, so perfect, and he knows he will never get tired of seeing the faces Nino makes when he’s inside Nino, moving inside Nino’s body like he was born for this and this alone.

He stops moving and Nino lets out a moan that sounded closer to a whimper, making him grin despite himself; he hums and reaches up to cup Nino’s chin, his jaw, tilting Nino’s face just so and coaxing Nino to focus his gaze onto him.

His vision is blurry but he wills himself to focus entirely on the face before him, smiles when he spies Nino licking his suddenly dry lips. He stares at Nino and wonders yet again how the marks on him and Jun match when Nino is the one who fits him perfectly.

“Oh-chan, please – I…”

“Love you,” he tells Nino, breathing the words into Nino’s ear and making Nino moan in return. He doesn’t remember saying it before but it’s alright because right now, the moment is perfect for him to say it. “I love you so much, Nino,”

“Oh god –“ Nino cuts in, but he’s too busy sucking a mark into the sensitive spot beneath Nino’s ear to pay attention, moving his hips in time with the flex of his hand around Nino’s cock.

He thrusts once, twice, mouthing something indistinct against Nino’s skin when Nino calls his name, more like yells and he finds himself staring at the reflection of himself and Nino, at the sight of Nino’s face with his eyes wide and his lips parted in shock.

“W-What –“

“Oh-chan, the marks!” Nino half-yells and his gaze immediately rivets down to Nino’s chest, to the now familiar marks marring Nino’s body. The sight itself is enough to make his knees wobble, but the need to reassure himself that what he’s seeing is real is stronger he finds himself moving forward to squint at the marks on Nino’s body, marks that are slowly changing right in front of his very eyes to match that of his.

“God fucking shit –“ he curses under his breath, squinting still, one arm branded around Nino’s waist to steady them both. Nino gasps, eyes wide and unblinking and god, is this what he think it is?

“ _Oh god, oh god,”_

He tears his gaze away from the marks but only so he could move his hand. He traces the now all-too-familiar marks marring Nino’s chest, gazing at them in wonder and touching each mark softly, like he’s afraid they will change back the minute he take his eyes off them.

“Oh-chan, what –“ Nino asks but he cuts him off with a slight jerk of his hips, reminding himself and Nino that he is still hard and throbbing inside the younger man’s body despite this monumental discovery slapping  them hard in the face.

“See that,” he breathes, splaying his palm over the spot on Nino’s chest where Nino’s heart is beating crazily underneath. “Whoever said you’re not made especially just for me is clearly stupid,” he says, still tracing the changed marks in fascination.

“Because you are, and the marks finally realized it, too,”

 

 


	22. Complicated Twist

It’s been hours since Nino’s marks changed to match his and he is still there, lying on his stomach next to Nino on the bed, fingertips tracing the familiar lines and curves now marring Nino’s chest. They are still both naked, (well Nino is, he has his boxers on but that’s just it) because he refuses to dress Nino and cover those marks just yet, opting on turning the heater up for Nino.    
  
Until now, he still couldn’t believe it, that the marks really have changed right before their very eyes, telling Nino as much and earning a good-natured snort from Nino in return, feeling Nino’s fingers threading through his hair, firm and yet tender.  
  
“Well, better believe it now,” Nino tells him, lightly tugging at his hair and thus making him raise his head to meet Nino’s gaze, dark and intent as he pushes himself up, stopping only when he and Nino are face to face. “It’s not like I did something horribly stupid just to change them,” Nino follows with a pout and god, he can’t help but stare at Nino as he fingers the side of Nino’s mouth tenderly.  
  
He smiles and leans down to kiss Nino’s pout away, aware of the little hitches on Nino’s breath when he flicks his tongue along Nino’s bottom lip for a little taste.   
  
“Even if you did, I don’t really care,” he says, worming his hand round the back of Nino’s neck to steady Nino, kissing Nino harder this time. When he pulls away, they are both breathing hard. “In fact, I’d even ask you to do the same to me just to make sure we’ll have these matching marks forever,”  
  
Nino looks a little dazed, though there is something in Nino’s eyes when their gazes meet, holding his own for a second longer before Nino looks down and away, the same look on Nino’s face that tugs at his heartstrings painfully. He hooks his thumb under Nino’s chin, tilting Nino’s face up despite Nino’s resistance.  
  
“Hey, hey  _look_ at me,” he murmurs, the ache in his chest feels horribly present, especially when he doesn’t know what Nino is thinking, when it’s so obvious that Nino is blocking him from reading Nino’s thoughts. He cups Nino’s cheek with one hand, raises himself up on his elbow before leaning down to press his forehead against Nino’s, careful not to crush Nino with his weight. “Hey, let me in, come on now,” he says, more like begs, as he peppers the tips of Nino’s nose with tiny, playful kisses.  
  
Nino shakes his head and closes his eyes, clearly pushing him out, all the way out. He heaves a sigh and thumbs the corners of Nino’s mouth softly.   
  
“Fine if you don’t want me inside your head,” he says, voice hinted with playful threat as he takes his other hand away from still tracing the marks on Nino’s chest, letting it travel down Nino’s body. Nino gasps when his fingers found Nino’s nipples, one after the other, tugging each bud in between his thumb and forefinger. “But I know a dozen and one ways to get into your thoughts without forcing my way in,” he says, smiling a little, though he wishes he doesn’t have to resolve into doing that just to read Nino’s thoughts.   
  
He wants Nino to tell him what is bothering him on his own, what he probably said that had upset the younger man without forcing Nino; he’ll wait even if it kills him, even if it hurts so long as he is sure he is not about to lose Nino because of his selfishness. He doesn’t mind the pain so long as Nino is with him, so long as they are together.  
  
He stops his fingers’ exploration when Nino opens his eyes for a brief second, their gazes meeting again and he realizes Nino just let him in without him knowing it.   
  
Nino’s no longer blocking him, the images of himself as he walks away from Nino, of Nino’s tears and heartbreak as Nino watches him go is as heart-wrenching as if he is the one feeling them; they were so clear that he fears they might be his own thoughts too if not for the fact that he _never,_  not even once ever since he met Nino, think about leaving Nino behind.   
  
He presses another hard kiss to Nino’s mouth. “Why don’t you believe me, Nino?” he asks, upset that despite being here, Nino still won’t believe that he’ll stay. “I already told you, I’m not going anywhere without you, I  _can’t_ – it’s…  _you’re_  my life now… this is my life now, you have to believe me,”  
  
Nino doesn’t say anything but the way he answers him in his thoughts is loud enough for him to hear it if Nino said it himself.  
  
 _Forever?,_  Nino says,  _Are you sure, Oh-chan?_  
  
He takes Nino’s face in hand again and presses another kiss, this time gentler and a hundred times softer, to Nino’s mouth.  
  
“Damn sure,” he says, kissing Nino again just because he can, before he lies down and tugs Nino into him, shifting Nino above him. “And forever, so if you have any doubt about your feelings for me, now’s the time to address them. Though it’ll be pretty hard to get rid of me now,” he says with a pause, reaching up to trace Nino’s chest again, “Our marks match so that means you’re mine. No running away from me anymore, Ninomiya-san,”  
  
“I won’t run,” Nino whispers, and it’s the sweetest sound he’s ever heard, next to the noises Nino likes to make when their bodies are one. “but if I have to, if I absolutely  _have_  to –“  
  
“I won’t let you,” he returns, worming his palm around the back of Nino’s head and tugging Nino’s face down for another kiss. “Two steps is the farthest you’d be away from me, I assure you that, Nino. You go and I follow, that’s how it is now. That’s how it’s going to be between you and me from now on,” he breathes.  
  
Nino nods his head and meets him in the middle for a kiss that is both desperate and tender, their thoughts in sync as he flips their position over.


	23. Hold Tight

He’s here for more than a week now – the longest he’s ever gone without his mate to attend to but he guesses none of those things matter when he’s busy swallowing someone else’s cock to the root to even pay attention to anything.   
  
It’s been an almost nonstop bliss since that night he witnessed his mate fucking someone else, the pain he could no longer remember just because Sakurai-san was there to pick him up from the worst day of his life and turning his life over for the better.  
  
“Ah, _god_  –“ Sakurai-san grumbles yet again, hips thrusting shallowly into him, his fingers careful on their grip around the back of his neck. They’ve been at it for the better part of the hour, him waking Sakurai-san by sucking the man’s cock into his mouth, slow and reverent, just taking his time until Sakurai-san opened his eyes and realized what was happening.  
  
Every morning he wakes up, for the past week, he would go straight to the bathroom to check his body in the mirror, fingertips tracing the unfamiliar marks now embedded on his skin like they’ve always belong there. And every morning, Sakurai-san would follow him, arms branding around him from behind, kissing his shoulders before Sakurai-san’s hands themselves would trace the marks on his chest that now matched those on Sakurai-san’s own body.   
  
And everytime, Sakurai-san would catch his eyes through the mirror, mouth against the lobe of his ear and whispering, “ _Mine_ ; you’re mine, Jun. Only mine,”   
  
This morning, however, he didn’t feel the need to do any of that. This morning he woke up in the arms of the man who changed his life in an instant, and the huge urge to mate was too strong he found himself throwing the covers aside and crawling quickly on his hands on knees down Sakurai-san’s body, parking himself in between Sakurai-san’s legs and taking Sakurai-san’s cock out without bothering relieving Sakurai-san off his pants.  
  
Almost an hour after, he’s still here, refusing to let Sakurai-san come despite knowing how close Sakurai-san had been to tipping over the edge a few times since; he would always let go when he knows Sakurai-san is close, reading Sakurai-san’s thoughts as clearly as if he’s said the words ‘ _oh god, I’m gonna come, I’m gonna_ –‘ out loud.  
  
It’s the most baffling thing ever – this mind-reading thing – and he guesses everything they said about it is true. He and Sakurai-san are connected, linked, by some invisible force that enable them communicate without words, the same way they were thought to believe since they were children. It’s always been one of the mysteries surrounding the matching marks, one that is so great that not many people are as lucky as he is to experience.   
  
The same thing he never get to experience with his mate, with Satoshi, but with everything that has happened for the past week now, he is sure he’s no longer harboring ill feelings towards his former (well, technically, Satoshi is still his mate but with the changed marks, he is pretty sure that their union is now null and void) mate.  
  
He wonders if it’s just him, if  _that_ guy, Nino, whose marks probably matched someone else’s will also undergo the changes he himself had gone through, if the guy is able to do that somehow, if what happened to him has happened to others too, especially to Nino, and if it did, then what the hell are they supposed to do?   
  
“Well we,  _ahh shit_  – won’t know for sure if you don’t agree to come with me to visit them,” Sakurai-san says, startling him; he grunts despite Sakurai-san’s cock in his mouth, the action making Sakurai-san’s eyes loll to the back of his head as he rearranges his position and lets Sakurai-san’s cock slip out from his mouth with a wet, almost obscene pop.  
  
“You really have to stop doing that,” he grumbles, thumbing the slit of Sakurai-san’s cock, spreading precum over the sensitive head, and the action simply contradicts what his mouth is saying because despite the creepiness of it all, the truth is that he doesn’t really mind to have someone else reading his thoughts for him, though he prefers it better if he’s the one doing the mind-reading thing and not the other way around.  
  
Though now, there’s nothing to read in Sakurai-san’s mind aside from how the man wants him on his hands and knees as Sakurai-san takes him from behind.  
  
“God, your thoughts are really loud, not to mention really filthy,” he comments, face burning, though he is moving without prompting, crawling upwards again to catch Sakurai-san’s mouth into a kiss. Then he is tugging Sakurai-san up with a smug kind of grin, pushing Sakurai-san behind him as he moves into position.  
  
Sakurai-san groans, long and outdrawn as he hitches his hips up in midair and wriggle it teasingly.  
  
“Well, what are you waiting for there?”   
  
+++  
  
“It’s going to be alright,” Sakurai-san reassures him for what seemed like the fiftieth time for the past half hour, their hands twined as they walked the rest of the way to the place he'd just been to days before. He felt twitchy despite knowing that Sakurai-san was there to do this with him; he’s also a little scared, to be honest.  
  
“I-Is it…Is it okay if I – if I stay back until you – until your brother open the door to let you in?”  
  
Sakurai-san’s answering chuckles are nothing but fond, if not indulgent, feeling a little grateful that it’s already dark out here when Sakurai-san does the unexpected and tugs at their joined hands till they’re close enough to kiss.  
  
A week of being with this man allowed him to discover so many things about himself he never knew existed, and that being with him every single day strengthens their bond the way he never felt with Satoshi.  
  
“Fine,” Sakurai-san mutters, leaning in forward to kiss him again; “but don’t stray too far and don’t let me lose sight of you, okay?” Sakurai-san whispers, fingering his jaw, soft and tender and his heart does that skipping thing again that he’s sure he won’t ever get use to, never.  
  
He lowers his eyes and nods his head, feels Sakurai-san’s fingertips stroking his cheek. “You won’t,” he mumbles, tilting his head just so and leaning further into Sakurai-san’s touch. “I promise you won’t,”


	24. Think it through

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This was supposed to be just a filler chapter, following Hold Tight and before Elaborate Plans.

It’s already more than a week now eversince he decided to stay here – the longest he’d been away from Jun, from his mate, or former one at that, a week since he had chosen to stay here, to be with Nino instead of going back to Jun.   
  
But it’s a done thing now – he can’t possibly go back to how he was before he met Nino, especially after Jun found out about him and the younger man. Of course it’s not that easy, that even though Nino is his life, it doesn’t change the fact that he chose to hurt someone else just to be with Nino, maybe hurting him still by leaving him behind to stay with the person he’s waited all his life to be with.  
  
It’s difficult but he soldiers on. For one, he doesn’t want Nino to think he’s having second thoughts about being here, about choosing this because he’s not – it’s just that sometimes, the guilty feeling strikes when he least expects it, but he doesn’t let it ruin the happiness, the contentment he feels just by being here with Nino. He knows that someday, soon, he has to man up and leave the comforts of Nino’s home to trek the way back to the apartment he once shared with Jun so they could finally settle things over, talk things over, the way they should have months ago but not now, not yet.  
  
It has to be done, sooner or later – they have to face each other eventually and do what he had to do in order to nullify his union with Jun, make things right for once. Maybe then he could finally think about talking it out with Nino – about the two of them going in for assessment this time, to right the wrongs made by the marks, to give Jun the freedom he deserves in order to find the person Jun could be with, so he himself could be with Nino for the rest of his life in peace.  
  
Though it’s not even once he found himself worrying about his and Jun’s matching marks now that Nino’s own matched his, too. Has Jun’s mark changed, too, or did they stay the same? Did they disappear or did they change to match someone else’s too, like Nino’s? And if Jun’s mark didn’t disappear or changed, then how was he supposed to nullify his union with Jun if their marks still matched? Is it even possible for three people to have matching marks on them? If it is, then what in hell is he supposed to do?   
  
Granting that their marks matched, the three of them, will the Elders allow him to decide who he wants to mate with? Will they even consider Nino’s changed marks or will they still favor Jun, his original mate?   
  
It’s a terrible thing to think about, not to mention, scary, because in the end, whatever the Elders have decided upon, then it’s what they will abide. And it is one reason why he is having seconds thoughts about making things official with Nino even after he settled things with Jun, because once Jun agreed, then he and Jun have to go in, both of them, to sign up the request to nullify their union -  something that is almost nonexistent in terms of the matching marks -  and he is pretty sure there’s going to be some intense interrogation about to take place then.   
  
They’re probably going to be the first and hell, he’s not sure what will happen once they bring the matter up, their reason for wanting to nullify their union to the Elders; he’s not sure what will happen once the Elders realized that the marks could change, or what they will say once they were asked what had happened, what had triggered the change because as far as tradition goes, and as far as the marks are concerned, no similar incident has ever occurred ever since the marks started appearing on people’s bodies. There have never been any reported incidents of one’s marks changing to match those of another person especially if said person’s marks already matched those of someone else, and even if there has been any, it is most likely that not many people are aware about it.  
  
 _You’re thinking too much, Oh-chan_ , Nino’s voice says in his head, slicing through his mental conflict and he realized he’s been staring at the same spot for more than a few minutes now. He shakes his head and closes his eyes, allows the images of Nino naked on the bed, fingertips trailing over the now all too familiar marks on his chest.  _Stop, okay?_  
  
 _Sorry, I can’t help it_ , he replies, taking a little sip from the glass of water he has in his hand.  _I’m just. God, I’m worried about you, about us. What if we go in for assessment and they outright deny us? I don’t know what I will do then._  
  
 _I do_ , Nino returns, quickly, before he is treated a view of Nino’s plans of taking him away where no one can reach them.   
  
 _I don’t think we have the means to actually do that_ , he chuckles at that, taking another sip of his water.  _I’m not even sure how you are managing to keep us both fed while we’re locked inside this house_ , he adds, honestly curious. Well, it’s not the first time he’s thought about it but with Nino so close, everything sort of just spiral out of his mind aside from the ever present need to mate with Nino.  
  
Nino’s answering chuckles sounded so fond, so smug, so Nino.  _Don’t worry about it, I have enough money to last us ten lifetimes,_ Nino says and he honestly don’t know how much of what Nino is saying is just full on boasting but judging with how huge Nino’s apartment is, not to mention the fact that Nino isn’t working, at all, but still manages to live a pretty convenient life, he guesses Nino must be either filthy rich or someone who is equally filthy rich is providing for him – his parents, maybe?  _You don’t even need to work to provide for me, isn’t that awesome?_  
  
He manages a smile despite himself.  _It is, but can you not mention that again? My alpha pride is hurting._  
  
 _Well, forgive me_ , Nino apologizes though he sounded not even the least bit apologetic even in his own head, groaning quietly when Nino allows him another peek into the images of Nino on the bed, Nino’s hand on himself and calling out his name.  _And come back here quick so I can do something about that hurting Alpha pride of yours._  
  
He grins and puts the glass down without a second thought.  
  
  
++++  
  
  
He is just about to go back to bed when he hears the faint sounds of someone calling Nino’s name, follows by the sounds of insistent knocking outside Nino’s door.  
  
The voice is somewhat familiar but he can’t exactly place where he heard it.  
  
“Kazu, it’s me, open the door,” calls the voice from outside, and the jealousy that suddenly exploded in his chest is so overwhelming he doesn’t realize he’s walked towards the door and yanking it open before he could stop himself.   
  
Outside, he is met with a familiar face, though he can’t be bother to dig his brain for information about the man, especially when he is seconds away from knocking the man out. The man called  _his_  Nino by his first name, asking to be let in the same confident tone as if he has all the right to.    
  
“You must be Ohno-san,” the man outside says, meeting his fiery gaze straight on.  
  
“Who’s asking?” he asks, just to be a jerk, though his eyes move from the man’s face to the other figure moving in the shadows, his eyes wide when the figure steps out from the dark and he realizes who it is.  
  
“Oh-chan, what’s taking you so lo –“ Nino’s voice trails at the same time the man before him takes his gaze away from him, locking his eyes onto Nino. He is turning around to grab Nino by the waist, wrapping an arm around Nino protectively, vaguely aware at the presence of another familiar person as he tugs Nino close.  
  
“Sho?” Nino calls, sounding awfully surprised. Well, honestly, he is too. Who the hell is this Sho person anyway and how come he knows Nino? More importantly, what the hell is this Sho doing here with  _him?_  
  
“You know this person?” he asks Nino, spitting the words out venomously without letting Nino go, his eyes drawn to _him_  behind this Sho person, tracking  _his_  movements until  _he_  comes out of the shadow. He and Nino let out twin gasps when Jun, his mate, steps forward and Sho reaches behind to take one of Jun’s hand, threading their fingers together.  
  
“Of course,” Sho says, sounding amused, and nods at the two of them, well mostly at him.   
  
“I’m his brother,”  
  
“He’s my brother,” Nino and the man mumbles at the same time.  
  
He tries to blink the confusion away but it’s hard, especially with the presence of his mate there. Without missing a beat, he focuses his gaze onto Jun, who remains quiet through the whole affair.  
  
“Alright, I’ll ask about that later,” he says, swallowing hard, fixing his gaze on Jun before darting his eyes downward, specifically to their joined hands. “but first,” he pauses.  
  
“What the fuck is going on?”


	25. Elaborate Plans

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This happens AFTER Complicated Twist XD

No one talks as Nino guides them all inside his living room, his agitation growing with every goddamn step, his worries doubling on its own with every passing second. It doesn’t help that Nino is equally quiet, Nino’s fingers twined with his own are cold to the touch.  
  
His gaze rivets down to his (former) mate’s fingers tangled against the other man’s own, the way Jun follows the other man like an obedient shadow, but also different because Jun has this certain glow in his eyes that wasn’t there before.   
  
Suddenly, Nino’s voice is in his head.   
  
 _What, do you regret it now? Seeing your mate in the arms of another guy, wishing it is you?_  
  
He turns to find Nino’s gaze is on him, focused and almost wild that it seeing that expression on Nino’s face is nothing but painful. His heart aches fiercely because even now, even after everything he’s willing to give up for Nino, Nino is still afraid he’ll leave. He bites his tongue before he verbally chastise Nino, throws Nino a warning glare before he is tugging Nino so hard into him and hugging him tight.   
  
 _Don’t put things in my head and words in my mouth_ , he replies back without bothering opening his mouth because he and Nino can understand each other just fine, lips pressed against Nino’s temple as the other two walks on, oblivious to the two of them communicating through thoughts. _Because you know that’s not what I was thinking_.  
  
 _Then stop looking at him like that!_  
  
Nino averts his eyes when he lets go, at the same time Jun and the other man turns to face them, one is looking rather amused and the other, a little well, worried.  
  
“Have a seat, please,” Nino tells them, gesturing with his free hand, the other one he refuses to let go of. His former mate sees this and he swears the corners of Jun’s mouth twitch the slightest bit but he doesn’t let it get to him, opting on squaring his shoulders and meeting Jun’s gaze head on. “You guys want anything to drink?” Nino asks after a few moments of awkward silence, Nino’s fingers twitching inside his grip.  
  
“Not really,” the other man, Sho-san, Nino’s brother says along with a shake of his head. “But if you will insist –“  
  
“Tea for me, coffee for Sho-san,” Jun replies this time around, eyes locked on his face.  
  
It is followed by the images of Nino’s fingers clawing at Jun’s face like an untamed cat, barely able to muffle his snickers when Nino turns to him and says, actually grits, “Come help me prepare their drinks, Oh-chan,” to which he just nods his head in fear of getting mauled by Nino, too.  
  
+++  
  
His back hits the hard wall before he even realizes what is happening.  
  
“What the fuck was that all about?” Nino hisses, and god, he wonders which is more entertaining, seeing the jealousy written all over Nino’s face or the murderous, almost gory details of how Nino plans on murdering Jun, and  _him_  once he gets the chance. Both are satisfyingly good, to be honest that he finds himself grinning despite Nino’s elbow digging against his windpipe.  
  
“You’re jealous,” he pipes up, too amuse to care that Nino is actually seconds away from knocking him out because  _this_  – this is all new to him, especially since he never pegged Nino to be the jealous type. Whilst on the other hand he himself never denied the fact that he wants Nino for himself, that despite the fact that he's already mated when he and Nino met, he still pursued Nino like he have all the right in the world to do so.  
  
“Don’t push it, Satoshi,” Nino bites out, eyes glowing bright in the dim light surrounding the kitchen. “Because I’m at this point where I’m seconds away from considering stuffing you inside the washer just so I won’t have to see you looking at your mate as if you’d rather have your hands on him instead of my brother,”  
  
“Former,” he breathes, trying to clear things out and still grinning like a lunatic when Nino all but frowns at him.   
  
"What?"  
  
" _Former_  mate," he says, reaching up to finger the side of Nino's neck, before drawing his hand down Nino's side, slipping his fingers inside the hem of Nino's shirt and straight into tracing the marks hidden beneath Nino's clothes before tugging the fabric up to reveal their matching marks. "Or have you forgotten?"  
  
"Have you?" Nino bites back, mouth twisting ruefully at the edges and it's all he can do not to lean in and taste Nino's rage, biting his tongue a little too late as another chuckle slips out from his mouth.   
  
He shakes his head and thumbs the array of marks surrounding Nino's right nipple and gets a breathy, almost unsteady gasp from the back of Nino's throat in return.   
  
"Never," he breathes, tugging at Nino's elbow and leaning in for a kiss, parting Nino's mouth wide and shoving his tongue into the heat of Nino's mouth without any preamble. Then he is flipping their positions over before Nino can even voice out his protests, kissing Nino deeply and backing Nino against the wall where he is previously backed against.  
  
"How do you think it's possible when all I think of is you?" he asks when they pull apart enough to let air back into their lungs, fingering the side of Nino's jaw as he noses Nino's cheek. "When all I ever desire is to be close to you, be inside you, every waking hour of my existence?"  
  
Nino whimpers into him and god, he wants Nino so bad right now it hurts. He wants to do Nino right here, against the wall, and if it's not for the fact that there are other people waiting out there for them, he'll probably get right into it but as it is, he can't.  
  
 _We can do a quickie?,_  Nino's thought screams and he finds himself muffling his chuckles into Nino's neck.  
  
"You know I hate doing quickies," he voices out as he unburies his face from the hollow space between Nino's neck and shoulder. "And besides, I don't want to risk your brother hating me forever if he happen to find me drilling you against your kitchen wall,"  
  
 _You can drill me against the bathroom sink._  
  
"Kazu, be serious,"  
  
"Yeah," a voice adds itself from the conversation and he finds Sho-san leaning against the opposite wall, his arms crossed over his chest as he stares at them both. "That's exactly what I was going to tell that brother of mine,"  
  
He quirks an eyebrow and stares at the other man. "We'll be right out, Sho-chan," Nino says, his tone changing in an instant. "Why don't you just -"  
  
"Oh my god, Kazu, you haven't told him?" Sho-san cuts in, looking shell-shocked. "This means - oh god, he doesn't now, does he?"  
  
His gaze drifts between Sho-san's face and Nino, honestly confused. Told him what?, he thinks, forcing his way into Nino's mind and finding another huge blank before he even manages to get in. Nino is once again pushing him out and he finds it honestly frustrating.  
  
"Let him in, Kazu," Sho-san warns this time, "Let him in or I'll tell him myself,"  
  
"What the hell are you two even -"  
  
Then it happens, his eyes wide the minute Nino lets him into his memories and finding the secret of Nino's previous marks matching that of his brother.  
  
He is immediately gathering Nino into his arms and catching Nino's mouth into a kiss.   
  
"Not anymore, not anymore," he chants, unmindful of the fact that Nino's brother is there, watching them; he could watch all he wants, he couldn't care less, tugging Nino into him and rocking them both. "You're mine now, remember that,"  
  
Behind them, Sho-san chuckles. "Well that's good to know," Sho-san says, "at least Jun's not the only one,"


	26. Twisted Hearts

He chuckles, amused, as he watches the two walk away hand in hand, taking note at the too-possessive way his brother’s fingers are gripping Ohno’s arm tightly.  
  
 _What’s funny?,_  Jun’s voice is suddenly in his head, so clear that he is almost certain Jun said the words out loud instead if it’s not for the fact that he is sure Jun didn’t. Really, this thought-sharing thing is as amazing as it is scary.   
  
He shakes his head.  _My brother,_  he returns without bothering opening his mouth, taking Jun’s hand and raising it up to his lips, dropping a soft kiss against the back of Jun’s palm. Jun quirks an eyebrow at him, and waits until he’s done kissing each of Jun’s knuckles before he says,  
  
“Nothing,” he follows, opting on talking out loud this time, “I just found it amusing and well, cute, to find him so physically attached to someone like that, because you see, that guy is a loner; even before when we were children; he prefers to be alone, he doesn’t socialize much and I swear he only has about a couple of people he genuinely likes and hangs out with when he’s not lazing around in his room playing his games,”  
  
Jun snorts as if he can’t help it and there’s another thing about Jun he doesn’t mind seeing everytime. He is smiling though the obvious agitation is still there, and for one moment he wishes he has the power to erase it all – Jun’s past pain and heartaches – wishes  _he_  himself is enough to replace all those bad memories because there’s nothing he want more than to share Jun’s thoughts every waking moment of their lives together from here on.  
  
Jun is suddenly on his space before he can even blink, tugging their joined hands together and pressing a hard kiss into his mouth.  
  
“You don’t even need to ask that, Sho-san,” Jun tells him, mouth still pressed against his, and with Jun so close like this, he doesn’t mind being Jun’s second choice, not really. Not when he is certain that Jun’s heart beats for him and him alone now, that the marks Jun has in his body that previously matched someone else’s are now  perfectly matched to his.   
  
“Because you already have,” Jun whispers, kissing him again, soft and tender this time, “The moment you touched my hand and kissed me, even before the marks I have in my body changed to match yours, my heart has been beating for you and you alone. Don’t you ever doubt that, never again, okay?”  
  
“Mine,” he whispers, worming a palm around the back of Jun’s neck and tugging his face down to press their foreheads together.  
  
“Yes,”  
  
Jun belongs to him. That is more than enough.  
  
+++  
  
He’s not sure whether it was a good idea to follow these two, but fifteen minutes is an awful lot of time to be preparing drinks so despite Jun’s reluctance to let him go, he still went ahead and followed them. Well, he doesn’t need to really but frankly, part of it is because he could no longer stand Jun’s inner turmoil that he is sure won’t be appeased until they settle this.   
  
But seeing as how the two are obviously busy doing something else, he vaguely wonders if stepping out and leaving them alone would be the better choice, especially now that he finds them with their arms twined around each other, their bodies so close together that he’s not even sure where one begins and the other ends. It looks almost claustrophobic, and coupled with the fact that they have their mouths fused together in a kiss that is nothing but passionate, he wonders if they could still breathe.  
  
“You know I hate doing quickies,” Ohno mutters after he’s done shoving his tongue inside his brother’s mouth, at the same time he is unburying his face from where he has it mashed against his  brother’s neck and he is honestly shocked that it took Ohno’s next words for him to be able to put two and two together. "And besides, I don't want to risk your brother hating me forever if he happens to find me drilling you against your kitchen wall,"  
  
They are speaking through thoughts, it’s so obvious, because this close he is pretty sure his brother hadn’t said a word out loud but Ohno replied as if that was the case. And he is certain that it is, judging with the way they’re conversing the same way he and Jun do.  
  
He wants to laugh but at the same time he wants to cry, too, because this certainly means one thing; freedom for him and for his brother to love and mate with the person their hearts - and later on the marks have chosen for them.  
  
“Kazu, be serious,” Ohno says, his fingers gentle around the back of his brother’s neck and he can’t help himself from grinning; he’s overjoyed, ecstatic about all these that he kind of forgoes his manners in favor of stepping out from behind the door and leaning back against the wall.  
  
“Yeah,” he says, loud enough to catch their attention. "That's exactly what I was going to tell that brother of mine,"  
  
He spies his brother quirking an eyebrow at him. “We’ll be right out, Sho-chan,” his brother tells him, sounding annoyed and god, how he misses that stinky-eyed look his brother is giving him right now. All because of this man, and a formerly mated man at that; well, he can’t exactly tease his brother about this, though, he is head over heels in love with the said man’s former mate, afterall.   
  
Then, in an instant, his brother’s eyes turned sharp, his tone hurried. “Why don’t you just –“   
  
 _Shit_. So that’s how it is? "Oh my god, Kazu, you haven't told him?" he asks, and knows that he sounded a little terrified, not for him but for his brother. Afterall, Matsumoto-san already knows everything there is to know about him and his supposed mate, but it is obvious that Ohno-san doesn’t. "This means - oh god, he doesn't now, does he?" he follows, his gaze focused on his brother’s pale face.  
  
Ohno-san seems honestly confused and he is staring at his brother’s face hard, like he’s trying to get into his brother’s head but couldn’t.   
  
Oh, so that’s what it is. Despite being mated, one can still choose not to let one’s mate into his head if he doesn’t want to. God, he will never stop being surprised with the mysteries surrounding the marks no matter how many times he witnesses it himself.  
  
“Let him in, Kazu,” he says, stepping forward just in time to see the miserable curl tugging at the corners of his brother’s mouth, “Let him in or I’ll tell him myself,”  
  
"What the hell are you two even -"  
  
When it happened, he is pretty sure he is bracing himself so hard, watching Ohno-san’s face go through several changes until it settled on something so fond, so tender, before he is reaching over to grab his brother almost roughly, gathering his brother into Ohno-san’s arms before catching his brother’s mouth into a kiss.  
  
Then Ohno-san chants, "Not anymore, not anymore," still mostly against his brother’s mouth and he feels honestly relieved, smiling and shaking his head when it is followed with, "You're mine now, remember that,"  
  
He chuckles, because how could he not when everything about this is worth smiling about?  
  
"Well that's good to know," he mumbles, "at least Jun's not the only one,"  
  
+++  
  
“What do you mean Jun’s not the only one?” he asks before he can even stop himself. Nino’s brother doesn’t bother answering and just starts walking back toward the direction of the living room where Jun is left alone.  
  
He follows the other man, taking Nino’s hand into his before doing so, tugging Nino with him.   
  
“Hey –“  
  
 _Oh-chan, calm down_ , says Nino’s voice in his head, soft and understanding. He glances back and offers Nino an apologetic smile, squeezing Nino’s hand in quiet thanks and stopping when Sho-san does, too. Jun is immediately on his feet, darting worried glances between the three of them.   
  
“Care to explain what you meant by what you said a while ago, Sho-chan?” Nino asks this time, keeping his gaze locked on his brother’s face. To their credit, Sho-san simply looks amused, if not a little smug even.  
  
“Sure,” Sho-san agrees with a little tilt of his head before nodding at his brother. “Go and take your shirt off first, Kazu,”  
  
He honestly feels like he is immediately being lit in fire, feels his blood boiling in rage.   
  
“What the hell?” he hisses before quickly turning to Nino and hissing, “Don’t you even think about it Nino!”  
  
Sho-san heaves a sigh, while he, on the other hand, seems seconds away from stepping forward and swinging his hand right into the other man’s face to knock him out. It doesn’t matter whether the guy is his mate’s brother, it really doesn’t, and he’s so mad right now he could barely think straight.  
  
“Sho-san, what are you –“ Jun says or at least starts to, then pauses when Sho-san turns to him and offers him a small, almost apologetic smile. They stare into each other’s eyes for a second or two and he swears he sees Jun’s eyes go wide before Jun smiles, shaking his head.  
  
“Fine, Jun, go ahead and take your shirt off,”  
  
“What in hell –“  
  
“Sho-chan, you know I love you but I really don’t think I can stomach the idea of engaging myself in an orgy with you and Oh-chan’s mate –“  
  
“ _Former_ ,” he clarifies, cutting Nino off.   
  
“Right,” Nino agrees, then, “so, can we not do this please? Just the thought of it is already making me sick,”  
  
Sho-san looks at them both, looking slightly incredulous for a whole second before he cracks up, Jun following shortly after.  
  
He and Nino share a look. “O-kay,” he mutters at the same time Nino shakes his head and mumbles, “The fuck?”  
  
  
+++  
  
  
“Holy shit,” he curses, eyes as wide as a pair of curry bowls, shocked and equal parts amazed as he stares at the elaborate patterns marring Jun’s chest. “T-They’ve changed,” he breathes, so surprised that he finds himself reaching out to touch the unfamiliar marks now embedded across Jun’s chest when he feels a sudden painful slap against his skin.  
  
 _Keep your hands to yourself if you don’t want me to cut them off you_ , Nino screams in his head and he takes his hand back with an almost sheepish grin at the same time Nino’s brother, Sho-san, lets out a chuckle and reaches over to brand an arm around Jun’s waist.  
“Possessive, aren’t we?” Sho muses, nodding at his brother who simply huffs in response. He grins and turns to lean into Nino, nuzzles his nose against the side of Nino’s temple.  
  
“As if you’re not,” he returns, splaying his palm on Nino’s chest, the spot where Nino’s heart is beating steadily underneath. “It’s a mate thing, it’s completely understandable,”  
  
“I don’t think so,” Jun is the one who spoke this time, “you were my mate but I’ve never felt this way about you before,”  
  
“Thanks for clearing that up,” Nino bites out and he giggles, can’t not, as he nuzzles Nino’s throat, completely smitten as Nino screams  _I’m going to scratch your mate to death, Oh-chan, so shut him up before I do_ , in his head.  
  
Which he answers with a simple,  _Former mate, and don’t you forget it._  Nino simply hums and answers,  _Fine, whatever._  
  
When he untucks his face from the dip of Nino’s neck and turns his attention back to his former mate and Nino’s brother, he nods.  
  
“Now, what?”


	27. Addendum

“Take it off,”  
  
“Hell, no,”   
  
“What’s the matter? Are you afraid? I thought you said you’re sure that the marks have changed?”  
  
“I  _am_ sure,”   
  
“Then TAKE THE FUCKING SHIRT OFF AND SHOW US,”  
  
“NO.”  
  
Nino narrows his eyes, Jun narrows his.   
  
It’s sort of funny, watching the two bicker like old women, and couple with the images running through Nino’s head right now, it’s hilarious. He doesn’t even need to know what Jun is thinking to know that it probably mirrors what are in Nino’s thoughts, judging with the way Sho-san is trying his hardest to keep himself from snickering, but is obviously failing. He snorts before he can even stop himself, finds himself being glared at by Nino and his former mate.   
  
“What?” Nino and Jun grunts simultaneously, their brows shooting up their hairlines.   
  
“Nothing,” he says, though evidently, he probably should have just shut his mouth instead of saying anything because lying won’t work, especially if one has a mate as sharp-witted as Nino. Nino doesn’t say anything but he does show him his plans of kicking him out to sleep on the floor tonight.  
  
“Aww, Nino, you know that’s not –“ he is whining before he can even stop himself, then cuts himself off before he adds something more embarrassing.   
  
Thankfully, Sho-san is there to back him up. “Kazu, you know we have to do this,” Sho-san says, tone coaxing; he probably used that tone frequently enough to convince his brother and for once, he doesn’t allow himself to get jealous. He needs to remind himself that Sho-san and his mate are blood-related, despite being mated once, and that Nino belongs to him now, the same way Sho-san is to Jun.  
  
“It’s better to make sure that the marks really did change so we’ll know what to do and say once the four of us go in for assessment,” Sho-san follows, using that diplomatic tone of his that he feels a little bit envious about.   
  
But then Nino surprises him by reaching over to take his hand, whispering  _I love you just the way you are, Oh-chan_  in his head.  
  
He smiles and nods. Then, “Do you think it is alright to do that?” he asks, meeting Jun’s gaze briefly. Even now, the proverbial guilt is there, throbbing away in his chest like some distant memory but it’s not as prominent as it was before, possibly because he knows Jun is happy with someone else now. “What if they think we did something to change the marks?”  
  
Nino nods his head at this. “Exactly my fear, Sho-chan,” Nino agrees thoughtfully. “They might think we –“  
  
“So what are you suggesting?” Jun cuts in, brows knitted together in a way that is a little scary. But the expression on his face changed abruptly, the same time Sho-san reaches over and links their fingers together.   
  
“We’re just saying that we need to think this through,” he says, briefly throwing Nino a glance. Nino’s fingers tighten against his, Nino’s thoughts link to his, their fears mirroring that of each other. “Make sure we aren’t the only ones to experience this. That Jun and Nino aren’t the only ones whose marks changed to match someone else’s,”  
  
“You think we don’t know that?” Jun counters, mouth twisting ruefully at the edges. “Of course there’s a reason why Sho-san wants to check the marks on us both,” he says, gesturing between him and Nino. Then, like an afterthought, “I showed you mine, why the hell you don’t want to show us yours?”  
  
“Because I don’t want to?” Nino returns, smiling sweetly at Jun. He and Sho-san both roll their eyes to the heaven.   
  
Jun turns to him with his brows raised. “This is the person you cheated me with, Satoshi?” Jun says, in utter seriousness that has him and Sho-san sputtering simultaneously. “So mature,”  
  
“Tell him to shut his big mouth, Sho-chan, or I’ll do it myself,” Nino counters, tone pissed that he has to quickly put his arms around Nino’s waist, murmurs words into the side of Nino’s neck to calm him down.  
  
“Kazu,” Sho-san breathes, sounding fondly exasperated. “Come on, don’t be a brat. Take off your shirt so we can check the marks. I’ll check yours and Ohno-san can check Jun’s –“  
  
“You can forget about it,” Nino says quickly, eyes narrowed. He chuckles and presses a soft kiss against Nino’s temple.  
  
The rest of them sigh. “Then how are we supposed to –“  
  
“How about we take pictures?” he suggests, meeting Sho-san and Jun’s gazes above Nino’s head. Jun and Sho-san shares a look that speaks volume, while Nino screams  _I’m gonna claw his eyes out and feed them to our neighbor’s cat, Oh-chan_ , which he answers with a sheepish,  _well, in case you’ve forgotten, we actually don’t have neighbors, so it goes without saying that there are no cats around here, too._  
  
Nino tells him he’s an idiot, while opposite them, Sho-san is nodding his head in agreement after his and Jun’s equally quiet conversation.   
  
“Fine, we’ll do that,” Sho-san says. Then, “Shall we do it here or –“  
  
Nino grunts and stands up. “You know where the spare bedroom is, Sho-chan,” Nino says with a huff, tugging him up with him. “And fucking keep it down or I swear to god, I’m never letting you in here ever again,” Nino adds suggestively, a smirk tugging at the corners of Nino’s mouth, throwing his brother and Jun a look of mock disgust.   
  
“Why are you asking us to keep it down – oh,”  
  
“Oh god, now I know why you didn’t want to mate with this man,” Jun says, looking incredulous. Nino simply glares at Jun and tugs him forward.   
  
“It’s because we’re brothers and not because of anything else. If we weren’t, I’m sure he wouldn’t mind –“ Nino trails here when he gets inside Nino’s head and fills Nino’s thoughts with the images of Nino tied into his headboard, slapping Nino’s buttcheeks as he pounds Nino’s ass from behind.   
  
“But I do mind so you can forget what I said. Now take it to the bedroom and don’t fucking ruin the sheets. You’re buying me new ones if you do,”  
  
“I bought this house and everything in it from my money, Kazunari, or have you forgotten?” Sho-san counters. Ah, so that’s how it is.  
  
“It’s my money, too, Sakurai, so shut it. Just because I ran away from home doesn’t mean you get all the family’s wealth because you don’t. Grandpa made it absolutely sure I won’t be left with nothing,”  
  
“We’re not going to talk about our family’s wealth while we’re in the middle of a very different crisis, Kazunari,”  
  
“Then let’s not,” Nino agrees and wow, he can’t be sure if it’s proper to feel amused with the way the brothers settle things. “Take your mate with you and I’ll take mine. If we’re not there to say goodbye when you’re done, don’t bother knocking; we’ll be busy,”  
  
Sho-san and Jun cringes. “Jesus, Kazu.”  
  
+++  
  
“Are you sure?” he asks, reading the detailed reports in his hand. The guy who handed it over nods his head without meeting his questioning gaze. He can’t believe it but – “You are absolutely sure?” the man nods again.   
  
“Ohno-san and his mate had been living apart for over two weeks now, and the mate, Matsumoto-san, has been spotted leaving Sakurai Sho’s apartment building the day before yesterday. The pictures can attest to that,”  
  
He blinks, sliding the photos out from the envelope and stares at them in absolute bewilderment.   
  
So this is the reason why Sakurai Sho and Sakurai Kazunari never return to hold their union as was customary to the temple two weeks after their assessment. The fact that Sakurai Kazunari had simply vanished and Sakurai Sho remained elusive in giving his statement with regards to his impending union to none other than his younger brother, stating that he will give no further comments until his brother decided to come forward himself.   
  
With the Sakurai’s money, the brothers are able to evade what normal citizens couldn’t. Defying the marks by taking a mate whose marks don’t match theirs.   
  
And it is his duty to correct these mistakes before someone else gets the wrong idea.  
  
He tears his gaze away from the photos and directs it to the man kneeling below him.  
  
“Find Matsumoto and Ohno and bring them to me,”  
  
The man bows. “It will be done,”


	28. Uninvited

He adjusts the binoculars in his hand and watches the house closely before he puts it down to retrieve his phone.

_Neither leaves the house for three straight days now, but I’m sure they are there. The lights inside the house are being switched on at exactly seven and are turned off again before midnight._

He presses send and receives an immediate  _Excellent. Keep me posted_ in return.

He nods to himself and puts the phone down again.

+++

“Take the phone, Oh-chan,” Nino grumbles from where he is perched comfortably on the couch, legs propped up against the couch’s arm while he plays.

He is grinning before he can even swallow it down, almost stumbling on absolutely nothing as he struggles to put on his shirt.

 _Clumsy Oh-chan_ , Nino snorts as if the words had been spoken right into his ear and he grins, can’t not, walking the rest of the way to where Nino is; he slides down on his knees next to Nino’s head and leans in to nose the start of Nino’s hair.

“Do I have to?” he asks, voicing it this time because he wants to. Nino barely shifts but it is evident in the way Nino tilted his head to allow him some more room to dig his nose into Nino’s neck that he is more than welcome to do more than touch the other man but he can’t, not now at least.

“And how do you suppose I should contact you if in case you got lost again?”

“If in case you’ve forgotten, we’re mated,” he tells Nino at the same time he reaches over to finger the side of Nino’s mouth. “and we have our very own, very private and very secure communication line that enables us to talk without those stupid phones –“

“Well if in case you’ve forgotten, I won’t be able to talk to you if you’re unconscious,” Nino retorts quickly and immediately cutting him off. “So at least take the damn phone with you since you don’t want to take me, anyway,”

He blinks at Nino in apparent confusion. “Unconscious? Nino, I’m just going to visit my mother, why would I – oh,” he pauses when realization sink in, because well, Nino is right. There’s a big possibility that he’ll fall asleep in the train on his way to his mother’s place and that the chances of him missing his stop when Nino isn’t there to wake him is at it’s highest.

“Glad you’re able to see my point,” Nino grouches and god, he wants to kiss Nino again he is leaning forward to do just that before he can even stop himself. His mouth is on Nino’s the next instant, licking his way in between Nino’s lips and ignoring Nino’s muffled “Get off me, you oaf,”

He doesn’t; instead, he grabs Nino around the nape of his neck and gently turns Nino’s head to the side so he can kiss Nino properly. Nino moans, raspy and breathy, but he doesn’t stop him when he slips his tongue inside Nino’s mouth to caress Nino’s own. They are kissing desperately within seconds, breathing each other in as he sucks on Nino’s tongue as his hand reaches down to find Nino’s cock, already hard and throbbing, through the fabric of his pants.

He mouths his way downwards while he tugs the waistband of Nino’s sweats down, Nino helpfully raising his hips so he can pull the offending material down Nino’s legs. He doesn’t even bother taking Nino’s boxers off as he simply reaches inside to take Nino out, thumbing at the head with practiced ease while Nino moans his name.

“Nino, Nino –“ he hums, kissing his way from Nino’s chin down to Nino’s navel, at the same he flexes his fingers around Nino’s shaft.

“God – shit – ah, O-Oh-chan,”

“Yes?”

He raises his head just in time to see Nino licking his lips, their gazes meet in the middle as he squeezes the base of Nino’s cock.

“Y-You’re going to miss your t-train,” Nino husks out, obviously trying to act like he’s still upset when it’s obvious that he just managed to turn Nino’s mood around. He holds the base of Nino’s cock the way he knows is good, before he leans down and licks a wet trail from Nino’s navel and further down.

He stares at Nino’s cock in his hand, the pretty, copper-colored tip and his mouth waters before he even realizes it. He leans forward and samples a lick, the taste of Nino’s arousal is strong as it is familiar under his tongue.

“I’m going to miss you more,” is what he tells Nino before he closes his mouth over the head of Nino’s cock and sucks Nino in in one swift move.

+++

He pass by Sho's study with his car keys dangling at the tips of his fingers.

"I'm heading out," he informs Sho, watches the way his mate looks absolutely hot with his old man glasses on as he reads  his book.

Sho raises his head and looks at him from above his glasses, and his stomach tighten at the sight.

"Take the driver with you," Sho says, without missing a beat.

"I can perfectly drive myself to wherever I need to go, Sho-san," he says, rolling his eyes to the heaven and walking the short way inside. He stops when he is a few steps away from Sho, watches as Sho puts his book down and beckons him over.

"I know that," Sho says, curling his fingers around his wrist and tugging him down, their lips meeting halfway for a kiss, soft and chaste, almost playful. "But it's the driver's job to drive you wherever you need to go, so I insist,"

"I'm just heading over the combini to buy some stuff," he points out.

"I have people to do that for you, you don't need to go out and -"

He grabs Sho by his shoulders and presses their mouths together firmly before he pulls away.

"They're your servants, Lord Sakurai, not mine," he tells Sho in utter seriousness. "I'm going out to buy stuff for myself, maybe some food, too, and I can perfectly do that on my own. I don't need a driver, a bodyguard or a helper. I'm a grown man, Sho-san, if in case you've forgotten," he says, turning around with all the intention of leaving at once when Sho's hand catches his.

"Hey hey hey, come on, don't be like that,"

He turns, jabbing Sho's chest with an angry finger. "You're treating me like a fucking kid, it's annoying,"

"I'm not -"

"You are," he cuts in, "stop it, okay? I know what you're trying to do here and I swear to God, I do appreciate but it's - it's too much, okay? I'm not used to this. So just. I don't know, just let me do this my way, okay? Is that too much to ask?"

Sho heaves a sigh and pulls him back, hands creeping around the back of his neck and tugging his face down to press their foreheads together.

"I'm sorry, Jun, I'm sorry,"

He shakes his head in answer, a small, almost private smile graces the corners of his lips as he grabs Sho by the hips and kisses Sho's lips.

 _Don't be_ , he whispers in his head as they kiss,  _but if you want, you can make it up by telling those two shadows you assigned to follow me to stay put because I'm going around town all by my gorgeous self today and I don't want anyone tailing my ass no matter how invisible they're trying to be._

Sho pulls away a quarter of a second, looking like he is about to say something, but wisely bites his tongue when Sho sees the determined smile tugging at the corners of his mouth.

"Fine," Sho says and he swears his smile widens he is vaguely worried his face will split in half.

He leans over and gives Sho a smacking kiss in the mouth, exhaling, "You're the best, Sho-san," before he turns away.

+++

He's just about to turn the last page of his book when the door to his study opens abruptly and behind it, his brother emerges.

"Kazu? What the hell are you doing here -" he asks, or at least starts to but his words halt to a stop when he sees his brother's face.

"Sho-chan, you have to help me," Nino tells him, immediately grabbing him by the arms the minute he's close enough to do so. "Please please -"

"What the hell happened?" he returns, steadying his brother with a hand down the small of his brother's back. "God damn it, you're shaking! Talk to me, what the fuck happened?"

Kazu's face is pale and he is trembling all over that it's getting increasingly difficult to be patient, to wait until Kazu has pulled himself together enough to talk.

"Kazunari, you're scaring me,"

Kazu shakes himself out of his temporarily daze as he reaches over to curl his fingers tightly against the fabric of his shirt.

"It's Oh-chan, Sho-chan!" Kazu cries out, "they took him. I don't know who and I don't know when it happened but I'm sure someone took him! You have to help me find him, oh please, you have to help me!"

 

 


	29. Breaking rules

He keeps his eyes glued to the other man’s retreating back just to make sure he hasn’t lost him. The man then stops in front of a clothing shop, the fifth he’s visited in that last half hour and goes inside.  
  
He taps the earpiece once and murmurs, “Seize him,” in a firm tone before three uniformed guys move in sync and enter the shop’s premises.  
  
He steps out from his hiding and walks away.  
  
+++  
  
He keeps his hold around his brother’s trembling shoulders, leading them both towards the nearest couch without another word. He’s only vaguely thankful that this is not their family’s house so the dangers of their parents finding Kazu here is close to nothing.   
  
He cups his brother’s chin and tilts his face up, heart breaking at the sight, at the misery curling at the corners of his brother’s mouth.   
  
“Tell me what happened,” he coaxes, tasting bile in his tongue when Kazu makes a sort-of strangled noises from the back of his throat as he twists his fingers against the front of his shirt.   
  
“O-Oh-chan –“ Kazu starts with an almost choked cry, “H-He… someone took him, Sho-chan. I. I don’t know what to do, I don’t know where to go, who to ask, for help – I –“  
  
“It’s alright, it’s fine, I’m here. You did the right thing, alright, I’m your brother, I’m here to help you, don’t worry about it,” he says, tugging Kazu into his arms.   
  
“They got him, Sho-chan,” Kazu whimpers into his chest, and god, the sound of it is so heartbreaking he can feel it seeping through his bones. “What if we won’t be able to find Oh-chan anymore? What if they – what if he’s –“  
  
 _Sho-san!_  
  
He is immediately jerking back, whipping around so fast as if he’s been electrocuted.   
  
It’s Jun. Jun’s voice screaming his name in his head as if, as if…  
  
“Sho-chan? What happened?” his brother asks, breaking his focus for a split second before he hears it again.  
  
Sho help m –   
  
“Jun!”  
  
“Sho-chan?”  
  
He is tugging his brother by his arms so fast his brother winces at the momentary pain, but he ignores that in favor of whipping his phone out and dialing Jun’s number, getting nothing but the operator.  
  
Nino is still in tears, and looking up at him in confusion as he dials another number, before the door to his study opens abruptly and two uniformed men step in with a bow.  
  
“My brother’s mate has been kidnapped,” he announces, his brother shuddering against him. “Find him fast,” he says with a pause, then, “and make sure to report their whereabouts as soon as you know it,” he says, tugging his brother protectively inside his arms, “because I’m sure that’s where they took mine too,”  
  
“W-What?”  
  
  
+++  
  
When he came to, it is dark all around him; the quiet stillness makes his blood pound and when he tries to move his hands, he couldn’t. He realizes with a start that they’re bound behind him.  
  
“Hello?” he calls out, at the same time he is screaming Sho’s name in his head. He tries to twitch away from whatever is holding him back but it seems like even his whole body is tied against something.   
  
“Ugh –“ someone groans next to him, the sound of the voice is startlingly familiar he wonders if he’s hallucinating. But then the next thing he hears is a sort-of pained mention of Sho’s brother’s name and he knows, even without seeing the owner’s voice, that it is his former’s mate.  
  
“Satoshi?” he calls, but immediately regrets it the moment he is slapped with something in the face making him groan in pain. “Fuck!”  
  
 _Sho-san! Help me!,_  he screams in his head but he hears nothing.   
  
“I’m sure you are both aware why you were summoned here, Matsumoto-san, Ohno-san,” someone says from somewhere and he swears he feels the hair at the back of his neck stand on end.   
  
“You mean, ‘dragged here against our will’ right?” he goes for the sarcasm instead if only to cover up the way his heart is dangerously close to beating its way out of his chest. He feels a slight movement from his left and hears Ohno’s sharp intake of breath.  
  
“What the fuck is this?! Where am I? Hello?! Is anyone there – hello?!”  
  
“Satoshi,”   
  
“Huh,” his former mate returns, barely coherent, before he hears the familiar sound of something hitting skin, followed by Ohno’s painful groans; he growls and is treated with the same not even the second after.  
  
“What the fuck do you want from us?” he managed to grit out despite the stinging pain, could barely make out the words with his jaw aching like a total bitch.   
  
“Don’t play innocent, Matsumoto-san,” the voice answers, “but okay, since it sure looks like you are dead set on playing the part, I’m going to indulge you both,” the voice says at the same time the makeshift blindfold is tugged down from his eyes.   
  
He squints at the unfamiliar sight of the place they’re in, whipping around to find Ohno doing the same.   
  
“Who the fuck are you people?” Ohno hisses under his breath and a figure moves from the shadow, revealing himself behind the row of six guys in robes with their heads bowed low. He is wearing what could probably three layers of robe and his face is covered with black-satiny cloth that looks painfully like something he’d never dare buy for himself. Ugh.  
  
“You are asking the wrong questions, Ohno-san,” the man says, “Aren’t you supposed to be more inclined with knowing what you’re here for?”  
  
“Is it because of the marks?” he asks in what he hopes is a dignified tone.   
  
Six pairs of eyes are soon directed on him and he finds himself swallowing his fears when the man in the heavy robe strides forward.   
  
“What was that?” the man says, sounding obviously surprised. “What has the marks got to do with this?”  
  
He squares his shoulders. “You mean you dragged us here because of something else entirely? And not because you were aware that the marks –“  
  
“Jun, that’s enough,” Satoshi says quickly, cutting him off. “It’s obvious that they don’t,” Satoshi says, and he is honestly baffled he finds himself gaping at his former mate as Satoshi continues. “don’t make it worst by saying anything more,”  
  
The man in the heavy robe steps forward again.  
  
“You were summoned here because of infidelity and nothing more,” he says, “but it seems like there’s more to this than what we initially thought,” he says, then, with a wave of his hand, the six men move forward, in sync, and he announces in a loud voice.   
  
“Summon the Sakurai brothers,” he commands, “Now.”  
  
The men scramble towards the door after they exclaim, “IT WILL BE DONE,” in unison, leaving him and Satoshi gaping at them while the man in the heavy robe walks in front of them and stops.  
  
"Get them ready to meet the Elders," he says, loudly, before another pair comes into the room, seizing him and Ohno by the arms before hauling them up. "The Sakurai brothers will be here before sundown. Escort them to the Elders' chambers by then," he says and waves a hand, then they are being dragged towards the dark exit before they can even voice their protests.

 

 


	30. Recognition

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> another series done! THANKS :DD

  
_Sho-san!_  
  
His footsteps falter at the same time he feels his brother’s body freeze beneath his arm.   
  
“Oh-chan!” Kazu yells, gaze wild and unfocused as he grapples into the air for his mate that isn’t there. “Oh god, where are you?!”  
  
In his head, Jun is screaming his name too.   
  
“Kazu, calm down,” he whispers, firmly clasping his hands over his brother’s shoulders as he leads them both towards the waiting car. “Come on, get in,” he tells his  brother, putting a hand over his brother’s head, careful so he won’t hit his head as he gets inside the car.  
  
He turns to the uniformed man waiting by the door before he gets in after his brother. “Do we have the location, Nagase-kun?”  
  
The huge man nods his head. “Yes, Sakurai-san,” he says, “they’re being held in the temple,”   
  
Well, that’s hardly surprising, considering the fact that sooner or later, one of the Elders’ minions is bound to notice it. Especially with how strictly mated couples are being monitored during the first five years of their union. It’s possible that Ohno and Matsumoto are the first couples to have defied the tradition by living apart not even more than a year after they mated.  
  
“Who reported it?” he asks again, voice tight. He chances a glance below and finds his brother’s eyes are tightly closed, his brows furrowed. He tries to call Jun in his head again but he is met with nothing but silence.  
  
Nagase shakes his head. “No one, Sir,”  
  
“Then how come you’re aware of their whereabouts?” he asks, confused.   
  
Nagase tilts his head towards the front, where three black SUVs are parked and next to them stood two bald guys in equally black robes.  
  
“Because you and your brother are being summoned to join them, Sir,” Nagase says with a bow of his head.  
  
He nods. “Let’s go, then,”   
  
  
+++  
  
  
The next time he is allowed to open his eyes, it is in a dimly-lighted room with no windows. The room is probably five tatami mats in size, huge enough to fit an elephant and his family (maybe) but without a single furniture inside; at the very center, there is something like a very thin black carpet laid over it where he and Jun are currently sitting seiza-style.  
  
“Where the hell are we?” he mutters, blinking the disorientation away and glances to where Jun is, quietly still next to him. “Jun?”  
  
Jun shifts and just then he realizes that Jun has his eyes tightly shut.  _Praying? Meditating?_    
  
“I can’t hear Sho-san anymore,” Jun whispers.  _Ah, so that’s what he was doing_.  
  
Come to think of it, he can’t hear Nino’s voice too.  Unlike earlier, while they were being dragged here, even with the blindfolds on, he was able to tell Nino that he is alright and that Jun and him are together. But then the minute they were ushered inside this room, everything was silent again.  
  
“How about you?”  
  
He shakes his head. “I just realized it now, when you mentioned it,” he says.   
  
Jun is quiet again as he surveys the place they’re in. He does the same, quietly wondering what those dudes in robes are planning on doing to him and Jun. Then he remembers what that other dude in huge robes had said before those other dudes in robes came in and dragged him and Jun out.  
  
SUMMON THE SAKURAI BROTHERS  
  
“Shit,” he curses.  
  
Jun whips around, surprised. “What is it?”  
  
“We’re in the temple,” he says, “and I’m sure that your mate and Nino are on their way  here,”  
  
Jun looks fairly confused. “We’re going to face the Elders, Jun,” he says by way of explanation. “The four of us, in a trial,”  
  
“I – what?”  
  
He blinks, tension running through his fingertips and up his arms as he struggles to calm his racing heartbeat down.  
  
“That’s why we can’t hear them,” he says, realization dawning on him faster than it ought to. He looks around the room and knows that it’s what’s preventing them from hearing their mates’ voice. “We’re locked in. Sho and Nino are going into trial first, before us. I’m sure of it,”  
  
“But –“  
  
He reaches over and touches Jun’s arm, squeezing gently. “They have no idea about the changed marks, Jun,” he says, and just the thought of that is enough to assure him that the four of them are going to make it out of here, unscathed, the moment the Elders are assured that none of them have committed the sin with regards to the Matching Marks.  
  
He gives Jun a smile that he hopes is reassuring enough, squeezing Jun’s wrist gently.  
  
“And now they will, once they see the marks on you and Nino,”  
  
Jun doesn’t say anything but it is evident in the way he relaxes visibly that Jun believes this to be true. He watches, quiet, as Jun’s fingers slowly trace the marks hidden beneath his shirt; he looks happy despite the situation they’re currently in, and for all its worth, he likes seeing Jun this way.   
  
“I’m glad you are happy, Jun,” he says, meaning it, and gets a genuine smile in return.   
  
“I am,”  
  
He nods, eyes softening at the sight of Jun’s smile. “I haven’t apologized for hurting you and –“  
  
“You don’t need to,” Jun tells him, reaching out to squeeze his shoulder knowingly. “Everything has a reason,” Jun says, “and for us,  _this_  is that reason – us finding the person who we are destined to be with,”  
  
He smiles. “Still, I’m apologizing for the pain I’ve caused you then,” he says, “hurting you was the last thing I wanted but I still managed that, I’m sorry,”  
  
“I told you, you don’t need to,” Jun says, “and besides, we have to get over that since we’re going to be seeing more of each other from now on, since our mates turned out to be blood related,”  
  
He bristles, then smiles sheepishly as he remembers how jealous and possessive Nino could be when Jun and him are on the same room together. He wonders what Nino is thinking about now knowing that he and Jun are alone, together.  
  
“If Nino has his way, we’re not going to be able to see much of each other unless Sho-san demands it,”  
  
Jun pauses for about two seconds before he rolls his eyes in understanding. “Yes, because your mate is the most possessive guy ever. I would have killed him if he was mine, I’m telling you,”  
  
“No, you won’t,” he counters, still smiling. “I bet Sho-san is like that, too; he’s probably trying to hold back for now since you and him aren’t officially mated yet,”  
  
“I’ll kill him too if he ever tries that possessive stunt with me,”   
  
He laughs, wonders how easy it is to talk with Jun now that everything (hopefully) is finally settled between them.   
  
“Good luck on that,” he says, pausing just in time to see the door opening abruptly and five, six old dudes in white robes come in this time around.  
  
He and Jun straightens their backs the moment their visitors are properly inside.  
  
“Ohno-san, Matsumoto-san,” the first dude steps forward and call their name, his voice reverberating to the four corners of the room, at the same time two more dudes in black robes this time walks in to stand beside him and Jun, helping them up.  
  
Then the door opens the second time, and behind it, Sho and Nino emerge.   
  
 _Oh-chan, are you here?_  Nino’s voice screams in his head and his heart jumps in his throat when he realized Nino and Sho’s eyes are covered with blindfolds, same as the ones he and Jun had on earlier. Next to him, Jun’s lips move but no words come out.   
  
He is pretty sure he and Sho are already communicating.  
  
 _I’m here_ , he answers;  _Are you okay?_  
  
Nino’s voice sounded strained even in his own head and he feels this deep urge to run and cross the distance between him and Nino, wrap his arms around Nino’s body and tell him he’s there, that everything’s going to be alright. But he can’t – the trial is about to happen now and they can’t afford to piss the Elders if they want to get out of here and not go straight to prison.  
  
 _Are you?,_  Nino returns, worried;  _God, I was so worried when you stopped answering and –_  
  
  
 _It’s this chamber,_  he says, cutting Nino off.  _I stopped hearing your voice the moment we were brought in here._  
  
 _Is your mate here, too?_  Nino asks, a touché annoyed with the term Nino is still having trouble attaching to himself.  
  
He chuckles despite himself.  _Former,_  he says, then,  _yes; he’s talking to your brother now, I think_.  
  
 _Sho-chan is so pissed_ , Nino says,  _he said he is going to tear the whole temple down if something bad happens to your mate_.  
  
 _Former_ , he repeats, can vaguely imagine Nino rolling his eyes to the heaven.  _And you wouldn’t?_ , he asks, teasingly; he doesn’t need to hear Nino’s answers to know that Nino is just as capable of violence when it concerns him.  
  
 _No_ , Nino answers, calmly, though his tone is dripping with rage that it’s scary.  _I’m going to kill them one by one while the Elders watch, cut off their heads before I kill the Elders, too._  
  
 _Um,_  he hums,  _is this safe? No one can hear us talk, right? Just you and I?_  
  
Nino laughs, the sound of it going straight to his worried heart.  _I hope so_ , Nino says, then, gently,  _I miss your face, Oh-chan,_  Nino whispers.  
  
He finds a smile for Nino despite the fact that Nino can’t see him right now.  _Me too_ , he returns, at the same time the dude standing on the very center, the oldest-looking on the bunch, points at him and Jun.  
  
“Interesting,” the old man mutters, “very interesting,”  
  
  
+++  
  
  
 _Jun, are you okay?,_  came the familiar voice of Sho in his head and god, the relief is overwhelming he almost fell over because of it.  _You’re not hurt, are you?_  
  
It’s difficult to gather the strength to answer back, not when it's so difficult to swallow the urge to fling himself to the man who turned his life upside down when he is just there, standing not even ten steps away from him but he forces himself.   
  
 _I’m okay_ , he says,  _How about you?_   _They didn’t hurt you and your brother, did they?_    
  
Sho bristles and he can actually feel Sho’s anger from the distance. It’s scary but also sweet, knowing that there is someone who would willingly walk into a pit of fire just to save him.  
  
 _No,_  Sho answers, brusquely;  _they wouldn’t dare_ , he says, then,  _did they hurt you and Ohno-san?_  
  
He mentally shakes his head, answering a quiet no. He doesn’t need to tell Sho that one of the guards had given him two slaps in the face earlier, Ohno too, because Sho will find out about it himself anyway.  
  
 _Who is that person?_  Sho grits at the same time Sho gets inside his head because he allowed him.  _You remember his face?_  
  
He nods.  _Good,_  Sho says,  _He is officially dead for laying a finger on you._  
  
 _Sakurai-san is scary,_  he jokes, trying to lighten the atmosphere but it’s difficult, especially with the fact that they are surrounded with people who will decide their fates.  
  
 _I am,_  Sho says with such overflowing confidence that makes his chest tight with pride. And I’m sure they know that, too, but if not, I’ll make sure to inform them later.  
  
He smiles.  _I love you, Sho-san_ , he says and the sounds of Sho’s harsh breath in return are enough to make his worries disappear.   
  
 _Won’t you tell me that when we’re face to face, not when I’m standing so far away from you and I can’t kiss you afterwards?_  Sho says, voice tinged with genuine frustration and something else. He feels his face burns with embarrassment but he ignores it in favor of nodding his head.  
  
 _Then get us out of here and I’ll do that, what do you say?,_  he says.  
  
 _I will,_  Sho says – promises – and he nods. He knows Sho will do it, there’s no doubt that he will.   
  
He lowers his gaze to the ground at the same time his eyes caught the dude standing in the middle, pointing at him and Ohno, muttering,  
  
“Interesting; very interesting,”  
  
  
+++  
  
  
It’s all he could do not to tug the blindfold covering his eyes just to see what is happening, to see if Ohno really is there, check if he’s alright as what the older man told him.   
  
But he can’t. It’s against the rules, and he and his brother were briefed about what they could and couldn’t do while in the presence of the Elders but the gnawing feeling that something is about to go wrong, coupled with the fact that he badly wants to see Ohno right now is making it difficult to think rationally.  
  
 _It’ll be okay, Nino_ , Ohno says in his head, probably hoping he could reassure him by saying so. He wants to believe Ohno but hearing one of the Elders muttering ‘interesting’ and repeating it in the same amused tone is making the hair at the back of his neck stand on end.  
  
And then, without a warning, he feels himself being tugged forward, Ohno’s voice ringing through his ears, before the same voice he heard earlier spoke again.  
  
“Undress them,”

 

+++

 

The next time he blinks, he is once again on his knees, arms above his head as someone is quickly tugging his shirt off and throwing it carelessly down his feet.  There’s a chorus of ‘ _oohs_ and  _ahhs_ ’ the moment his shirt drops to the floor and he realizes then that next to him, Jun is being given the same treatment as his shirt meeting the same fate, his gaze lingering on Jun and Jun’s changed marks for a few seconds before he hears Nino’s screams in his head.  
  
His gaze rivets quickly from Jun to Nino, then to Sho, who are both now also missing their shirts.   
  
“Bring them forward,” the old dude commands with a flick of his fingers, before him and Jun are once again being dragged forward. They stop when they are not even five steps away from the Elders, from Nino and Sho.  
  
It is when his eyes meet Nino’s through the short distance that he realizes that they are no longer blindfolded.  
  
 _Oh-chan –_  
  
He shakes his head and doesn’t bother mouthing the words the way he usually would if he’s talking to Nino even if it’s in his head.   
  
 _Calm down_ , he says, keeping his gaze locked on Nino, vaguely aware that Jun and Sho are doing the same.  _I’m here_ , he adds, firmly this time _, I’m not going to leave you_  at the same time the leader of the Elders shifts and places his palm against the center of Nino’s chest and a foreign voice rings in his ear the second after.  
  
 _Unmated, but are able to communicate through thoughts_ , the voice says, sounding awed,  mystified, maybe even doubtful. He doesn’t even need to check it to know that the voice belongs to the leader of the Elders who had somewhat managed to join his and Nino’s “private” conversation.  
  
The old man turns and waves his hand again and then he is being hauled up on his feet before he even realized it, and stopping not even two feet away from the old man.  
  
This close, he realizes with a start the leader of the Elders is blind.  
  
“State your name, young man,” the leader says.   
  
“Ohno Satoshi,” he answers.  
  
“And your mate’s name?”   
  
“Sakurai Kazu –“ he blurts out almost immediately until the old man cuts him off with a curt, “Your  _legitimate_ one,”  
  
He bows his head, unable to meet Nino’s eyes. “Matsumoto Jun,”  
  
  
The silence that precedes then is deafening, though it is mostly being drowned by the noises of his own heart beating crazily inside his chest.   
  
“I believe Matsumoto-san is here?” the old man says.   
  
“I am here,” Jun answers.  
  
“Step forward please,” he says. Jun does as soon as the guy next to him pulls him up on his feet.   
  
“Closer,” the leader says, reaching over with his other hand. The one he keeps plastered against Nino’s chest. Jun crosses the short distance between them and obediently offers his hand which the old man accepts with a smile. Then he tugs Jun forward, closer, looking thoughtful and equal parts amazed as he slides his palm across the marks he’s sure the old man couldn’t actually see peppering Jun’s chest.  
  
“Where is the  _other_ Alpha?” he asks, twisting his head around to locate Sho, his gaze eerily accurate that he can’t help but wonder if the old man really is blind.   
  
“I’m here,” Sho says, stepping forward, face grim.   
  
“Ohno-san?”  
  
He bows then takes one step forward, too. “Here,” he says. The old man tilts his head in silent command and then four from the bunch move in sync; two walking to stand in front of him and the other two had gone straight to Sho.  
  
“Taichi-san,” the leader calls and one smaller and fairly younger man steps forward, his head bent low. “Tell me what you see,”  
  
Taichi-san raises his head. “It is what you think it is, Master,” he says. “The marks have changed. At least the ones on Matsumoto and Sakurai Kazunari,” he pauses, then, “Matsumoto-san’s looks identical to the ones on Sakurai Sho-san, and Sakurai Kazunari-san’s to the ones on Ohno-san’s,”  
  
The old man appears a little taken aback. He can’t blame him. This is probably the first time he has witnessed such a thing.  
  
“Perfect match?” the old man says, after a long pause.  
  
“So it appears to be,” Taichi-san answers, eyeing their chests in one sweeping gaze.   
  
Another beat, then the old man turns to the room at large, his palms still pressed against Jun’s and Nino’s chests. “Tell me, who did the initial screening of the marks on these men?”  
  
“I was the one who screened the Sakurai brothers,” says the one who is standing next to Sho.  
  
“How about the mated couple?”  
  
It is Jun who answers this time. “We weren’t screened here,” Jun says, “Me and my  _ma_  – Ohno-san were screened in the temple in Hokkaido,”  
  
“That’s where we held our union, as well,” he answers this time around before the leader could ask. “Exactly an hour after screening,” then, “I know it’s against the rules but you can tell that we didn’t force the marks to change. They simply did when –“ he pauses here the moment he hears Nino’s frantic  _Oh-chan, no!,_  and bites his tongue before he manages to say anything more.   
  
Sho steps forward and says, “We know it is very unusual but –“ but is immediately cut off when the Elders’ leader mutters,  
  
“This is very unusual indeed,” he says, “but not impossible, I suppose. I’ve heard a lot of stories from those before me with regards to the marks, how they sometimes change to match someone else’s despite them matching some other else before but I never believed those to be true –“  
  
 _Oh-chan, what if this old dude decides to give you back to your mate, am I allowed to kill him?_  
  
 _Nino –_  
  
A sudden bark of laughter stops him from quickly reminding Nino about the fact that the old man can actually hear them.  
  
“Take Matsumoto-san and Sakurai Sho-san to the other chamber for further screening,” the old man says with a smile before he tugs his hand away from Nino’s and Jun’s chests. “Ohno-san and Sakurai Kazunari-san will stay here for the same,”   
  
He then turns and waves a hand. Taichi-san steps forward as if on cue. “Prepare the main hall,” he says, “then call me once the papers are signed. I’ll officiate the union this time around,”  
  
Taichi-san bows. “As you wish, Master,”  
  
  
+++  
  
They haven’t even properly made it inside the house, hadn’t even properly close the door behind them and they are already pouncing on each other, mouths fused together as Ohno backs him against the door. His fingers are on Ohno’s hair, and Ohno’s own are on his face, touching him, kissing the air straight from his mouth as Ohno grinds their hips together.  
  
“God, I missed you. I  _fucking_  missed you,” Ohno mews into his mouth when he pulls away to breath. He whimpers, mouth parted wide for Ohno when Ohno dives in for another kiss, feels the searing heat travels from the back of his neck down to the soles of his feet.  
  
“O-Oh-chan –“ he hisses, panting for air as Ohno takes his mouth elsewhere, sucking a mark against the side of his jaw as one of Ohno’s hands move down down down in between their bodies, cupping him through his pants and almost making him lose his damn mind for wanting Ohno’s mouth and hands and cock on him right then and there.  
  
He’s not sure what happened since they left the temple – his memories are quite fuzzy, and well, that’s hardly surprising considering the fact that everything happened too fast that it was a little difficult to keep up.   
  
He vaguely remembers the chaos that erupted the moment his and Jun’s changed marks were revealed, how each of them were questioned immediately afterwards. It was nerve-wracking, standing there not knowing exactly what will happen, scared for the four of them no matter how tough he pretended to be.  
  
And then everything sort of slowed down when the leader of the Elders said something about the changed marks, vaguely remembering watching Sho and Jun as they were quickly ushered into a separate chamber not even two minutes after. There were two Elders who stayed back to screen his and Ohno’s marks, while the other two had followed Jun and Sho to obviously check theirs too.  
  
After that, they were once again ushered into the temple’s main hall, where, Ohno told him, the unions for mated couples are being held. Apparently, Ohno remembered that it looked fairly the same place that he and Jun held their union more than a year ago.  
  
They took Ohno away for about fifteen minutes and when they returned him, Ohno had this goofiest grin on his face that made him look so much younger than his age, and he found himself smiling back despite the painful thundering in his chest.  
  
“They made me sign the papers,” Ohno had announced, his grin still in place, “nullifying my union with Jun,” Ohno had added when he’s close enough to do so, taking his hand and lifting it to Ohno’s lips, pressing kisses against the back of his knuckles. “I’m free now, you see,” Ohno had said afterwards, looking at him with those thoughtful eyes of his. “Free to mate with you, if you’ll have me,” Ohno had said the last bit softly, almost hesitantly and he did the first thing that came to mind.  
  
He surged forward and pressed his mouth against Ohno’s, murmuring, “You don’t even need to ask, you idiot,” and the smile that Ohno gave him that moment had warmed him down to his toes.  
  
A breathy gasp escapes his throat the moment Ohno gracefully drops on his knees, leans in forward to nose his cock through his pants. His fingers automatically fly to Ohno’s head, as Ohno’s expert fingers quickly work to unbutton his fly, tugging his jeans down his legs without missing a beat.  
  
“Ah –“ he exclaims, humming his pleasure when Ohno’s mouth – hot and wet, warm and demanding – is on him, sucking him in one go and making his hips jerk in surprise as Ohno’s mouth encases him. “S-Shit, Oh-chan –“  
  
Ohno hums back, tonguing the tip of him and he almost, almost lost it right there. He tugs at Ohno’s hair, dazedly watches the way Ohno’s tongue swipes around the head of him before Ohno pulled away completely.  
  
“What?” Ohno asks, still licking his lips, and the sight alone is enough to make his cock throb with want.   
  
“God, stop the teasing, come on,” he says, harsh, ragged, tugging at Ohno’s ears until Ohno finally gives in and rises to his feet, till they’re nose to nose. Ohno leans forward and catches his mouth into a slow kiss, arms around his waist.  
  
“What do you want?” Ohno asks, rolling their hips together.  
  
He doesn’t bother with the niceties and just blurts out, “I want you to fuck me,” he says, bold and straightforward, enjoying the way Ohno’s eyes go several shades darker afterwards. “It’s just appropriate,” he adds, teasing his way inside Ohno’s mouth, tongue fluttering Ohno’s own before he pulls back. “we’re mated, so let’s mate,”  
  
“ _God,_  Nino,” Ohno hisses, kissing him again.   
  
“So is that a yes or a yes?” he asks, pushing his hips - his naked hips unto Ohno’s still fully clothed own.  
  
Ohno huffs out a laugh against his cheek. “Definitely a yes,” Ohno says, taking his face in between Ohno’s hand and kissing his eyes. “But not here, okay? I’m not fucking my mate by the door on the day of our union. We’re going to do this right, so, bed?”  
  
He grins, leaning up for another kiss. “Bed. Okay,” he agrees, letting out a girlish shriek when Ohno swoops him up into Ohno’s arms and his legs automatically go around Ohno’s waist. “Fuck, let me down,”  
  
Ohno shakes his head and kisses his chin. “Not a chance,” Ohno says, holding him firmly in place as Ohno crosses the threshold leading towards the bedroom. He rolls his eyes and decides to indulge his mate, nuzzling his nose against the start of Ohno’s hair as Ohno leads them inside.  
  
  
+++  
  
  
The frisson tingling down his spine is as surprising as Jun’s mouth on him the moment the limo’s door closed behind his brother and his mate.  
  
He feels his back hits the back seat, his arms automatically branding around Jun’s waist as Jun kisses him hard and fast, almost frantic. Jun’s hands frame his face, gentle and yet possessive, the same way he is holding Jun close to him. Jun gasps his name when he slips his tongue inside Jun’s mouth, tasting so many different things all at once when Jun lets him in with a sigh.  
  
He pushes Jun a bit away, just far enough so he could move sideways and reach the intercom button. He keeps one arm around Jun’s waist, as Jun continues peppering tiny, soft kisses all over his face, rocking his hips teasingly as he calls Nagase’s name.  
  
“Sir?”  
  
“Keep driving,” he instructs, “and don’t stop until I tell you to,” biting his tongue just in time to keep the noises in when Jun leans in and bites his earlobe, the tease. He puts a restraining hand against Jun’s leg to prevent him from moving, but all he gets is an even filthier roll of Jun’s tongue against the sensitive spot beneath his ear.  
  
“What?” Jun mutters, feigning innocence. He looks so lovely in his arms that his chest is filled with that overwhelming desire to push Jun on his back and ride him till he’s screaming his name.   
  
“Are we really doing this here?” he asks, reaching up to smooth the frown marring Jun’s brows and keeping his other arm where it is.   
  
“Well, if you want to wait two hours to get inside me because that’s how long we have to wait until we reach your apartment then be my guest,” Jun says, mouth twitching with mirth and god, he’s so beautiful that his throat goes dry just by looking at Jun right now.  
  
He shifts and Jun does too, and the encompassing desire is now coated with pride, remembering the way Jun had uttered his name, his promises, during their impromptu union. He still can’t believe it, that it had only taken half a day for Jun to be  _his_  forever, the same way his brother and Jun’s former mate did once his union with Ohno had been nullified.  
  
He reaches up and traces Jun’s cheek with the tips of his fingers, taking immense pleasure on the way Jun’s eyes are lidded heavily and he looks as peacefully content and happy as he himself feels with Jun in his arms like this.  
  
“You’re mine now,” he whispers, voice breaking when Jun nods his head and kisses him.   
  
“Yours,”   
  
+++  
  
  
A knock on his door takes his attention back to the present. “Come in,” he says. He doesn’t need his eyesight back to know that it is Taichi.  
  
“You were right, Master,” Taichi says, and he vaguely hears the sounds of paper being shuffled. “Matsumoto and Ohno are blood-related, just like the Sakurai brothers,”  
  
“How so?”  
  
“Half-brothers,” Taichi says. “Their mother gave Ohno up for adoption when he was born. Three years after, she married Matsumoto-san’s father and gave birth to Matsumoto Jun on the same year,”  
  
“How did they end up screened at the same time?”  
  
He is sure Taichi just shrugs before the other man answers. “Pure coincidence maybe,” Taichi says, “but Master, this just proves your hypothesis regarding the marks. This is the first time we have witnessed this thing firsthand but I’m sure this isn’t the first time this has happened. I think you are right. I think we need to re-evaluate the rules with regards to the matching marks,”  
  
He nods without hesitation. “Call in the others,” he says, vaguely remembering the way Sakurai Kazunari and Matsumoto Jun’s marks felt underneath his fingers when he touched them. They were speaking to him in a way he never thought possible.  
  
“I want to speak to them,”  
  
  
 _-END-_  



End file.
